Sample records for energy system configuration

Integrated power and attitude control system (IPACS) studies performed over a decade ago established the feasibility of simultaneously storing electrical energy in wheels and utilizing the resulting momentum for spacecraft attitude control. It was shown that such a system possessed many advantages over other contemporary energy storage and attitude control systems in many applications. More recent technology advances in composite rotors, magnetic bearings, and power control electronics have triggered new optimism regarding the feasibility and merits of such a system. This paper presents the results of a recent study whose focus was to define an advanced IPACS and to evaluate its merits for the Space Station application. Emphasis is given to the selection of the wheel configuration to perform the combined functions. A component design concept is developed to establish the system performance capability. A system-level trade study, including life-cycle costing, is performed to define the merits of the system relative to two other candidate systems. It is concluded that an advanced IPACS concept is not only feasible but offers substantial savings in mass and life-cycle cost.

In this paper, a transient simulation model of solar-assisted heating and cooling systems (SHC) is presented. A detailed case study is also discussed, in which three different configurations are considered. In all cases, the SHC system is based on the coupling of evacuated solar collectors with a single-stage LiBr-H{sub 2}O absorption chiller, and a gas-fired boiler is also included for auxiliary heating, only during the winter season. In the first configuration, the cooling capacity of the absorption chiller and the solar collector area are designed on the basis of the maximum cooling load, and an electric chiller is used as the auxiliary cooling system. The second layout is similar to the first one, but, in this case, the absorption chiller and the solar collector area are sized in order to balance only a fraction of the maximum cooling load. Finally, in the third configuration, there is no electric chiller, and the auxiliary gas-fired boiler is also used in summer to feed the absorption chiller, in case of scarce solar irradiation. The simulation model was developed using the TRNSYS software, and included the analysis of the dynamic behaviour of the building in which the SHC systems were supposed to be installed. The building was simulated using a single-lumped capacitance model. An economic model was also developed, in order to assess the operating and capital costs of the systems under analysis. Furthermore, a mixed heuristic-deterministic optimization algorithm was implemented, in order to determine the set of the synthesis/design variables that maximize the energy efficiency of each configuration under analysis. The results of the case study were analyzed on monthly and weekly basis, paying special attention to the energy and monetary flows of the standard and optimized configurations. The results are encouraging as for the potential of energy saving. On the contrary, the SHC systems appear still far from the economic profitability: however, this is

Balanced performance and energy consumption are incorporated in the design of modern computer systems. Several runtime factors, such as concurrency levels, thread mapping strategies, and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) should be considered in order to achieve optimal energy efficiency fora workload. Selecting appropriate run-time factors, however, is one of the most challenging tasks because the run-time factors are architecture-specific and workload-specific. And while most existing works concentrate on either static analysis of the workload or run-time prediction results, we present a hybrid two-step method that utilizes concurrency levels and DVFS settings to achieve the energy efficiency configuration for a worldoad. The experimental results based on a Xeon E5620 server with NPB and PARSEC benchmark suites show that the model is able to predict the energy efficient configuration accurately. On average, an additional 10% EDP (Energy Delay Product) saving is obtained by using run-time DVFS for the entire system. An off-line optimal solution is used to compare with the proposed scheme. Finally, the experimental results show that the average extra EDP saved by the optimal solution is within 5% on selective parallel benchmarks.

Balanced performance and energy consumption are incorporated in the design of modern computer systems. Several runtime factors, such as concurrency levels, thread mapping strategies, and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) should be considered in order to achieve optimal energy efficiency fora workload. Selecting appropriate run-time factors, however, is one of the most challenging tasks because the run-time factors are architecture-specific and workload-specific. And while most existing works concentrate on either static analysis of the workload or run-time prediction results, we present a hybrid two-step method that utilizes concurrency levels and DVFS settings to achieve the energy efficiency configuration formore » a worldoad. The experimental results based on a Xeon E5620 server with NPB and PARSEC benchmark suites show that the model is able to predict the energy efficient configuration accurately. On average, an additional 10% EDP (Energy Delay Product) saving is obtained by using run-time DVFS for the entire system. An off-line optimal solution is used to compare with the proposed scheme. Finally, the experimental results show that the average extra EDP saved by the optimal solution is within 5% on selective parallel benchmarks.« less

Automatic milking systems (AMS) have been a revolutionary innovation in dairy cow farming. Currently, more than 10,000 dairy cow farms worldwide use AMS to milk their cows. Electric consumption is one of the most relevant and uncontrollable operational cost of AMS, ranging between 35 and 40% of their total annual operational costs. The aim of the present study was to measure and analyze the electric energy consumption of 4 AMS with different configurations: single box, central unit featuring a central vacuum system for 1 cow unit and for 2 cow units. The electrical consumption (daily consumption, daily consumption per cow milked, consumption per milking, and consumption per 100L of milk) of each AMS (milking unit + air compressor) was measured using 2 energy analyzers. The measurement period lasted 24h with a sampling frequency of 0.2Hz. The daily total energy consumption (milking unit + air compressor) ranged between 45.4 and 81.3 kWh; the consumption per cow milked ranged between 0.59 and 0.99 kWh; the consumption per milking ranged between 0.21 and 0.33 kWh; and the consumption per 100L of milk ranged between 1.80 to 2.44 kWh according to the different configurations and operational contexts considered. Results showed that AMS electric consumption was mainly conditioned by farm management rather than machine characteristics/architectures. PMID:26971145

Conventional venting systems for oil-fired residential heating equipment include the flue connector, a barometric damper, and the chimney. This venting arrangement is directly responsible for some of the annual energy losses associated with these heating installations. In the work described in this report a study of the relevant characteristics of burners and dampers was done to permit these energy losses to be estimated as a function of the installation details. The purpose of this work is to determine the potential energy savings which might be realized from alternative venting methods in a wide range of situations. The basic draft/flow characteristics of barometric dampers were measured using a flow tunnel arrangement under cold (no combustion) conditions. A range of damper diameters and draft settings were used. Off-cycle draft/flow relations for several burners and heating units with the burner ports sealed were also measured over a range of conditions. Recently, oil burners have become available which have significantly higher static pressure fans. The excess air level provided by these burners is much less sensitive to variations in draft and burners of this type might be operated without a barometric damper. Burner fan performance curves for both high and low static pressure units have been measured. Flows through the heating unit and barometric damper flows have been calculated during the on- and off-cycle for a range of configurations as a function of outdoor temperature. The annual energy losses due to the venting system were calculated using a bin method. The calculated flows were compared with available field data. To supplement the available data some additional field measurements were taken during this project and are described in this report. 19 refs., 42 figs., 7 tabs.

Community energy storage (CES) has been proposed to mitigate the high variation in output from renewable sources and reduce peak load on the electrical grid. Thousands of these systems may be distributed around the grid to provide benefits to local distribution circuits and to the grid as a whole when aggregated. CES must be low cost to purchase and install and also largely maintenance free through more than 10 years of service life to be acceptable to most utilities.Achieving the required system life time is a major uncertainty for lithium-ion batteries. The lifetime and immediate system performance of batteries can change drastically with battery temperature, which is a strong function of system packaging, local climate, electrical duty cycle, and other factors. In other Li-ion applications, this problem is solved via air or liquid heating and cooling systems that may need occasional maintenance throughout their service life. CES requires a maintenance-free thermal management system providing protection from environmental conditions while rejecting heat from a moderate electrical duty cycle. Thus, the development of an effective, low-cost, zero-maintenance thermal management system poses a challenge critical to the success of CES. NREL and Southern California Edison have collaborated to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of various CES thermal configurations in multiple climates by building a model of CES based on collected test data, integrating it with an NREL-developed Li-ion degradation model, and applying CES electrical duty cycles and historic location-specific meteorological data to forecast battery thermal response and degradation through a 10-year service life.

Fuel cell stack configurations having elongated polygonal cross-sectional shapes and gaskets at the peripheral faces to which flow manifolds are sealingly affixed. Process channels convey a fuel and an oxidant through longer channels, and a cooling fluid is conveyed through relatively shorter cooling passages. The polygonal structure preferably includes at least two right angles, and the faces of the stack are arranged in opposite parallel pairs.

The Fusion Chamber System, a major component of the Magnetic Fusion Test Facility, contains several hundred devices which report status to the Supervisory Control and Diagnostic System for control and monitoring purposes. To manage the large number of diversity of devices represented, a device configuration management system was required and developed. Key components of this software tool include the MFTF Data Base; a configuration editor; and a tree structure defining the relationships between the subsystem devices. This paper will describe how the configurationsystem easily accomodates recognizing new devices, restructuring existing devices, and modifying device profile information.

We sought to design a free energy calculation scheme with the hope of saving cost for generating dynamical information that is inherent in trajectories. We demonstrated that snapshots in a converged trajectory set are associated with implicit conformers that have invariant statistical weight distribution (ISWD). Since infinite number of sets of implicit conformers with ISWD may be created through independent converged trajectory sets, we hypothesized that explicit conformers with ISWD may be constructed for complex molecular systems through systematic increase of conformer fineness, and tested the hypothesis in lipid molecule palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC). Furthermore, when explicit conformers with ISWD were utilized as basic states to define conformational entropy, change of which between two given macrostates was found to be equivalent to change of free energy except a mere difference of a negative temperature factor, and change of enthalpy essentially cancels corresponding change of average intra-conformer entropy. By implicitly taking advantage of entropy enthalpy compensation and forgoing all dynamical information, constructing explicit conformers with ISWD and counting thermally accessible number of which for interested end macrostates is likely to be an efficient and reliable alternative end point free energy calculation strategy. PMID:26974524

We sought to design a free energy calculation scheme with the hope of saving cost for generating dynamical information that is inherent in trajectories. We demonstrated that snapshots in a converged trajectory set are associated with implicit conformers that have invariant statistical weight distribution (ISWD). Since infinite number of sets of implicit conformers with ISWD may be created through independent converged trajectory sets, we hypothesized that explicit conformers with ISWD may be constructed for complex molecular systems through systematic increase of conformer fineness, and tested the hypothesis in lipid molecule palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC). Furthermore, when explicit conformers with ISWD were utilized as basic states to define conformational entropy, change of which between two given macrostates was found to be equivalent to change of free energy except a mere difference of a negative temperature factor, and change of enthalpy essentially cancels corresponding change of average intra-conformer entropy. By implicitly taking advantage of entropy enthalpy compensation and forgoing all dynamical information, constructing explicit conformers with ISWD and counting thermally accessible number of which for interested end macrostates is likely to be an efficient and reliable alternative end point free energy calculation strategy.

We sought to design a free energy calculation scheme with the hope of saving cost for generating dynamical information that is inherent in trajectories. We demonstrated that snapshots in a converged trajectory set are associated with implicit conformers that have invariant statistical weight distribution (ISWD). Since infinite number of sets of implicit conformers with ISWD may be created through independent converged trajectory sets, we hypothesized that explicit conformers with ISWD may be constructed for complex molecular systems through systematic increase of conformer fineness, and tested the hypothesis in lipid molecule palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC). Furthermore, when explicit conformers with ISWD were utilized as basic states to define conformational entropy, change of which between two given macrostates was found to be equivalent to change of free energy except a mere difference of a negative temperature factor, and change of enthalpy essentially cancels corresponding change of average intra-conformer entropy. By implicitly taking advantage of entropy enthalpy compensation and forgoing all dynamical information, constructing explicit conformers with ISWD and counting thermally accessible number of which for interested end macrostates is likely to be an efficient and reliable alternative end point free energy calculation strategy. PMID:26974524

A computer-based system for configuring and displaying information on changes in, and present status of, a collection of events associated with a project. Classes of icons for decision events, configurations and feedback mechanisms, and time lines (sequential and/or simultaneous) for related events are displayed. Metadata for each icon in each class is displayed by choosing and activating the corresponding icon. Access control (viewing, reading, writing, editing, deleting, etc.) is optionally imposed for metadata and other displayed information.

Operation and control of superconducting (SC) magnets in the fusion devices having tokamak configuration opens up the domain of varying peak thermal energy environment as a function of time, commensurate with the plasma pulses. The varied thermal energy environment, thus propagated to upstream of the cooling system, is responsible for the system level instability of the overall cryogenic system. The cryogenic distribution system, the regime of first impact point, therefore, has to be tuned so as to stay at the nearly stable zone of operation. The configuration of the cryogenic distribution system, considered in the present study, involves a liquid helium (LHe) bath as a thermal buffer, LHe submerged heat exchangers and cold circulator apart from the valves for implementations of the precise controls. The cold circulator supplies the forced flow supercritical helium, used for the cooling of SC magnets. The transients of the thermal energy pulses can be attenuated in the cryogenic distribution system by various methodologies. One of the adopted methodologies in the present study is with the precise speed control of the cold circulators. The adopted methodology is applied to various configurations of arrangements of internal components in the distribution system for obtaining system responses with superior attenuation of energy pulses. The process simulation approach, assumptions, considered inputs and constraints, process modeling with different configuration as well as results to accomplish the control scheme for the attenuation of the thermal energy pulses are described.

The configuration management program for the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Project Mission supports management of the project baseline by providing the mechanisms to identify, document, and control the functional and physical characteristics of the products. This document is one of the tools used to develop and control the mission and work. It is an integrated approach for control of technical, cost, schedule, and administrative information necessary to manage the configurations for the TWRS Project Mission. Configuration management focuses on five principal activities: configuration management system management, configuration identification, configuration status accounting, change control, and configuration management assessments. TWRS Project personnel must execute work in a controlled fashion. Work must be performed by verbatim use of authorized and released technical information and documentation. Application of configuration management will be consistently applied across all TWRS Project activities and assessed accordingly. The Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) configuration management requirements are prescribed in HNF-MP-013, Configuration Management Plan (FDH 1997a). This TWRS Configuration Management Plan (CMP) implements those requirements and supersedes the Tank Waste Remediation SystemConfiguration Management Program Plan described in Vann, 1996. HNF-SD-WM-CM-014, Tank Waste Remediation SystemConfiguration Management Implementation Plan (Vann, 1997) will be revised to implement the requirements of this plan. This plan provides the responsibilities, actions and tools necessary to implement the requirements as defined in the above referenced documents.

An LES simulation of flow over an accumulator unit of an underwater compressed air energy storage facility was conducted. The accumulator unit consists of three touching underwater balloons arranged in a floral configuration. The structure of the flow was examined via three dimensional iso surfaces of the Q criterion. Vortical cores were observed on the leeward surface of the balloons. The swirling tube flows generated by these vortical cores were depicted through three dimensional path lines. The flow dynamics were visualized via time series snapshots of two dimensional vorticity contours perpendicular to the flow direction; revealing the turbulent swinging motions of the aforementioned shedding-swirling tube flows. The time history of the hydrodynamic loading was presented in terms of lift and drag coefficients. Drag coefficient of each individual balloon in the floral configuration was smaller than that of a single balloon. It was found that the total drag coefficient of the floral unit of three touching balloons, i.e. summation of the drag coefficients of the balloons, is not too much larger than that of a single balloon whereas it provides three times the storage capacity. In addition to its practical significance in designing appropriate foundation and supports, the instantaneous hydrodynamic loading was used to determine the frequency of the turbulent swirling-swinging motions of the shedding vortex tubes; the Strouhal number was found to be larger than that of a single sphere at the same Reynolds number.

The ATLAS trigger configurationsystem uses a centrally provided relational database to store the configurations for all levels of the ATLAS trigger system. The configuration used at any point during data taking is maintained in this database. A interface to this database is provided by the TriggerTool, a Java-based graphical user interface. The TriggerTool has been designed to work as both a convenient browser and editor of configurations in the database for both general users and experts. The updates to the trigger system necessitated by the upgrades and changes in both hardware and software during the first long shut down of the LHC will be explored.

A system for configuring telemetry transponder cards uses a database of error checking protocol data structures, each containing data to implement at least one CCSDS protocol algorithm. Using a user interface, a user selects at least one telemetry specific error checking protocol from the database. A compiler configures an FPGA with the data from the data structures to implement the error checking protocol.

Cost effective approaches for placing automated payloads into circular and elliptical orbits using energy requirements significantly lower than that provided by the smallest, currently planned shuttle upper stage, SSUS-D, were investigated. Launch costs were derived using both NASA existing/planned launch approaches as well as new propulsion concepts meeting low-energy regime requirements. Candidate new propulsion approaches considered were solid (tandem, cluster, and controlled), solid/liquid combinations and all-liquid stages. Results show that the most economical way to deliver the 129 low energy payloads is basically with a new modular, short liquid bipropellant stage system for the large majority of the payloads. For the remainder of the payloads, use the shuttle with integral OMS and the Scout form for a few specialized payloads until the Shuttle becomes operational.

DAQMAN is a flexible configurable interface that allows the user to build and operate a VME-based data acquisition system on a Linux workstation. It consists of two parts: a Java-based Graphical User Interface to configure the system, and a C-based utility that reads out the data and creates the output ASCII data file, with two levels of diagnostic tools. The data acquisition system requires a CAEN CONET-VME Bridge to communicate between the hardware in the VME crate and the Linux workstation. Data acquisition modules, such as ADCs, TDC, Scalers, can be loaded into the system, or removed easily. The GUI allows users to activate modules, and channels within modules by clicking on icons. Running configurations are stored; data are collected and can be viewed either as raw numbers, or by charts and histograms that update as the data are accumulated. Data files are written to disk in ASCII format, with a date and time stamp.

Increasing regulatory and industry attention has been focused on properly controlling electrical design changes. These changes can be controlled by using configuration management techniques. Typically, there are ongoing modifications to various process systems or additions due to new requirements at every power plant. Proper control of these changes requires that an organized method be used to ensure that all important parameters of the electrical auxiliary systems are analyzed and that these parameters are evaluated accurately. This process, commonly referred to as configuration management, is becoming more important on both fossil and nuclear plants. Recent NRC- and utility-initiated inspections have identified problems due to incomplete analysis of changes to electrical auxiliary systems at nuclear stations.

This paper reports the design of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester that doubles the magnitude of output power generated by the prior four-bar magnet configuration. This enhancement was achieved with minor increase in volume by 23% and mass by 30%. The new 'double cell' design utilizes an additional pair of magnets to create a secondary air gap, or cell, for a second coil to vibrate within. To further reduce the dimensions of the device, two coils were attached to one common cantilever beam. These unique features lead to improvements of 66% in output power per unit volume (power density) and 27% increase in output power per unit volume and mass (specific power density), from 0.1 to 0.17 mW cm-3 and 0.41 to 0.51 mW cm-3 kg-1 respectively. Using the ANSYS multiphysics analysis, it was determined that for the double cell harvester, adding one additional pair of magnets created a small magnetic gradient between air gaps of 0.001 T which is insignificant in terms of electromagnetic damping. An analytical model was developed to optimize the magnitude of transformation factor and magnetic field gradient within the gap.

DAQMAN is a flexible configurable interface that allows the user to build and operate a VME-based data acquisition system on a Linux workstation. It consists of two parts: a Java-based Graphical User Interface to configure the system, and a C-based utility that reads out the data and creates the output ASCII data file, with two levels of diagnostic tools. The data acquisition system requires a CAEN CONET-VME Bridge to communicate between the hardware in themore » VME crate and the Linux workstation. Data acquisition modules, such as ADCs, TDC, Scalers, can be loaded into the system, or removed easily. The GUI allows users to activate modules, and channels within modules by clicking on icons. Running configurations are stored; data are collected and can be viewed either as raw numbers, or by charts and histograms that update as the data are accumulated. Data files are written to disk in ASCII format, with a date and time stamp.« less

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in a magnetic cusp configuration when β (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity. This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible. The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high β a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially smaller loss rates. While not able to confirm the details of Grad's work, the current experiment does validate, for the first time, the conjecture that confinement is substantially improved at high β . This represents critical progress toward an understanding of the plasma dynamics in a high-β cusp system. We hope that these results will stimulate a renewed interest in the cusp configuration as a fusion confinement candidate. In addition, the enhanced high-energy electron confinement resolves a key impediment to progress of the Polywell fusion concept, which combines a high-β cusp configuration with electrostatic fusion for a compact, power-producing nuclear fusion reactor.

This report describes the development of a prototype decision support system for oil spill response configuration planning that will help U.S. Coast Guard planners to determine the appropriate response equipment and personnel for major spills. The report discusses the application of advanced artificial intelligence planning techniques, as well as other software tools for spill trajectory modeling, plan evaluation and map display. The implementation of the prototype system is discussed in the context of two specific major spill scenarios in the San Francisco Bay.

Emergency response software is used increasingly by the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Emergency Management Project (EMP) personnel at Hanford Site. This software must be reliable, of high quality, and capable of performing critical functions to support assessment of actual or potential consequences of any hazardous accidents onsite or events having potential offsite impacts. To better control the software and ensure its suitability for use as a tool to protect employees, the public, and environment, a method for specifying and certifying its capabilities and documenting its development and implementation was needed. A team of EMP staff, composed of personnel from Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and Boeing Computer Services- Richland (BCSR) under the direction of PNL EMP, responded to this need by developing a software configuration management program (CMP). This report documents the development of the CMP, including the strategies upon which the CMP is based, and describes the program as it has been implemented for EMS System software. The program relies on the integration of its three primary elements: the configuration management staff, tools, and process. Configuration management staff run the program, using specially designed configuration management forms to guide, document, and track the life cycle of the software. The configuration management process itself is reflected in the instructive forms and summarized in flowcharts representing each phase of the process -- from requirements specification through implementation and maintenance. 7 refs., 9 figs., 1 tab.

This article presents a discussion of the configuration management (CM) and the Data Management (DM) functions and provides a perspective of the importance of configuration and data management processes to the success of system safety activities. The article addresses the basic requirements of configuration and data management generally based on NASA configuration and data management policies and practices, although the concepts are likely to represent processes of any public or private organization's well-designed configuration and data management program.

The objective of this study was to develop a hybrid wing body (HWB) sizing and analysis capability, apply that capability to estimate the fuel burn potential for an HWB concept, and identify associated technology requirements. An advanced tube with wings concept was also developed for comparison purposes. NASA s Flight Optimization System (FLOPS) conceptual aircraft sizing and synthesis software was modified to enable the sizing and analysis of HWB concepts. The noncircular pressurized centerbody of the HWB concept was modeled, and several options were created for defining the outboard wing sections. Weight and drag estimation routines were modified to accommodate the unique aspects of an HWB configuration. The resulting capability was then utilized to model a proprietary Boeing blended wing body (BWB) concept for comparison purposes. FLOPS predicted approximately a 15 percent greater drag, mainly caused by differences in compressibility drag estimation, and approximately a 5 percent greater takeoff gross weight, mainly caused by the additional fuel required, as compared with the Boeing data. Next, a 777-like reference vehicle was modeled in FLOPS and calibrated to published Boeing performance data; the same mission definition was used to size an HWB in FLOPS. Advanced airframe and propulsion technology assumptions were applied to the HWB to develop an estimate for potential fuel burn savings from such a concept. The same technology assumptions, where applicable, were then applied to an advanced tube-with-wings concept. The HWB concept had a 39 percent lower block fuel burn than the reference vehicle and a 12 percent lower block fuel burn than the advanced tube-with-wings configuration. However, this fuel burn advantage is partially derived from assuming the high-risk technology of embedded engines with boundary-layer-ingesting inlets. The HWB concept does have the potential for significantly reduced noise as a result of the shielding advantages that are inherent

The charge-transfer energy in water dimer is analyzed. The analysis is based on self-consistent charge and configuration method for subsystems (SCCCMS). The SCCCMS, as such, is not restricted to any computational schemes and can be applied at Hartree-Fock (HF), post-HF, and density functional levels of theory. In our approach, the interaction energy is decomposed into deformation (DEF), electrostatic (ES), polarization (P), charge transfer (CT), and exchange (EX) [exchange-correlation (XC)] contributions. The CT energy is derived from the energy surface spanned in the populational space. The intermediate results obtained during construction of this energy surface, such as chemical potentials, hardness and softness parameters, are of particular interest in the theory of chemical reactivity and, thus, these values are discussed as well. The influence of basis set and computational method is analyzed. The numerical values of the energy components obtained at the HF level of theory are compared with those of Kitaura-Morokuma (KM) and reduced variational space (RVS) analyses. It is shown that SCCCMS correctly describes the polarization process. The CT contribution is less dependent on the basis set than KM or RVS scheme and is free from the basis set superposition error (BSSE). It is demonstrated that the CT energy is of little importance for the water dimer. In addition, the amount of CT calculated in our scheme is almost identical to that obtained from the supermolecule calculations.

Planetary formation is mostly a random process. When the humanity reaches the point when it can transform planetary systems for the purpose of interstellar life expansion, the optimal distribution of matter in a planetary system will determine its population and expansive potential. Maximization of the planetary system carrying capacity and its potential for the interstellar life expansion depends on planetary sizes, orbits, rotation, chemical composition and other vital parameters. The distribution of planetesimals to achieve maximal carrying capacity of the planets during their life cycle, and maximal potential to inhabit other planetary systems must be calculated comprehensively. Moving much material from one planetary system to another is uneconomic because of the high amounts of energy and time required. Terraforming of the particular planets before the whole planetary system is configured might drastically decrease the potential habitability the whole system. Thus a planetary system is the basic unit for calculations to sustain maximal overall population and expand further. The mathematical model of optimization of matter distribution for a planetary systemconfiguration includes the input observed parameters: the map of material orbiting in the planetary system with specified orbits, masses, sizes, and the chemical compound for each, and the optimized output parameters. The optimized output parameters are sizes, masses, the number of planets, their chemical compound, and masses of the satellites required to make tidal forces. Also the magnetic fields and planetary rotations are crucial, but they will be considered in further versions of this model. The optimization criteria is the maximal carrying capacity plus maximal expansive potential of the planetary system. The maximal carrying capacity means the availability of essential life ingredients on the planetary surface, and the maximal expansive potential means availability of uranium and metals to build

In a real-time environment, the results of changes or failures in a complex, interconnected system need evaluation quickly. Tabulations showing the effects of changes and/or failures of a given item in the system are generally only useful for a single input, and only with regard to that item. Subsequent changes become harder to evaluate as combinations of failures produce a cascade effect. When confronted by multiple indicated failures in the system, it becomes necessary to determine a single cause. In this case, failure tables are not very helpful. CRANS, the Configurable Real-time ANalysis System, can interpret a logic tree, constructed by the user, describing a complex system and determine the effects of changes and failures in it. Items in the tree are related to each other by Boolean operators. The user is then able to change the state of these items (ON/OFF FAILED/UNFAILED). The program then evaluates the logic tree based on these changes and determines any resultant changes to other items in the tree. CRANS can also search for a common cause for multiple item failures, and allow the user to explore the logic tree from within the program. A "help" mode and a reference check provide the user with a means of exploring an item's underlying logic from within the program. A commonality check determines single point failures for an item or group of items. Output is in the form of a user-defined matrix or matrices of colored boxes, each box representing an item or set of items from the logic tree. Input is via mouse selection of the matrix boxes, using the mouse buttons to toggle the state of the item. CRANS is written in C-language and requires the MIT X Window System, Version 11 Revision 4 or Revision 5. It requires 78K of RAM for execution and a three button mouse. It has been successfully implemented on Sun4 workstations running SunOS, HP9000 workstations running HP-UX, and DECstations running ULTRIX. No executable is provided on the distribution medium; however

In this paper we present the novel concepts incorporated in a planetary surface exploration rover design that is currently under development. The Multitasking Rover (MTR) aims to demonstrate functionality that will cover many of the current and future needs such as rough-terrain mobility, modularity and upgradeability [1]. The rover system has enhanced mobility characteristics. It operates in conjunction with Science Packs (SPs) and Tool Packs (TPs) - modules attached to the main frame of the rover, which are either special tools or science instruments and alter the operation capabilities of the system. To date, each rover system design is very much task driven for example, the scenario of cooperative transportation of extended payloads [2], comprises two rovers each equipped with a manipulator dedicated to the task [3]. The MTR approach focuses mostly on modularity and upgradeability presenting at the same time a fair amount of internal re-configurability for the sake of rough terrain stability. The rover itself does not carry any scientific instruments or tools. To carry out the scenario mentioned above, the MTR would have to locate and pick-up a TP with the associated manipulator. After the completion of the task the TP could be put away to a storage location enabling the rover to utilize a different Pack. The rover will not only offer mobility to these modules, but also use them as tools, transforming its role and functionality. The advantage of this approach is that instead of sending a large number of rovers to perform a variety of tasks, a smaller number of MTRs could be deployed with a large number of SPs/TPs, offering multiples of the functionality at a reduced payload. Two SPs or TPs (or a combination of) can be carried and deployed. One of the key elements in the design of the four wheeled rover, lies within its suspension system. It comprises a linear actuator located within each leg and also an active differential linking the two shoulders. This novel

For aim to achieve an improved resolution in modern image domain, a method of continuous zoom multiple configuration, with a core optics is attempt to establish model by novel principle on energy transfer and high accuracy localization, by which the system resolution can be improved with a level in nano meters. A comparative study on traditional vs modern methods can demonstrate that the dialectical relationship and their balance is important, among Merit function, Optimization algorithms and Model parameterization. The effect of system evaluated criterion that MTF, REA, RMS etc. can support our arguments qualitatively.

Nuclear technologies have important distinctions and potential advantages for large-scale generation of hydrogen for U.S. energy services. Nuclear hydrogen requires no imported fossil fuels, results in lower greenhouse-gas emissions and other pollutants, lends itself to large-scale production, and is sustainable. The technical uncertainties in nuclear hydrogen processes and the reactor technologies needed to enable these processes, as well waste, proliferation, and economic issues must be successfully addressed before nuclear energy can be a major contributor to the nation's energy future. In order to address technical issues in the time frame needed to provide optimized hydrogen production choices, the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI) must examine a wide range of new technologies, make the best use of research funding, and make early decisions on which technology options to pursue. For these reasons, it is important that system integration studies be performed to help guide the decisions made in the NHI. In framing the scope of system integration analyses, there is a hierarchy of questions that should be addressed: What hydrogen markets will exist and what are their characteristics? Which markets are most consistent with nuclear hydrogen? What nuclear power and production process configurations are optimal? What requirements are placed on the nuclear hydrogen system? The intent of the NHI system studies is to gain a better understanding of nuclear power's potential role in a hydrogen economy and what hydrogen production technologies show the most promise. This work couples with system studies sponsored by DOE-EE and other agencies that provide a basis for evaluating and selecting future hydrogen production technologies. This assessment includes identifying commercial hydrogen applications and their requirements, comparing the characteristics of nuclear hydrogen systems to those market requirements, evaluating nuclear hydrogen configuration options within a given

Charpy impact energy of functionally graded steels produced by electroslag remelting composed of graded ferrite and austenite layers together with bainite or martensite intermediate layer in the form of crack arrester configuration has been investigated. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the notch tip position with respect to bainite or martensite layer significantly affects the impact energy. The closer the notch tip to the tougher layer, the higher the impact energy of the composite due to increment of energy absorbed by plastic deformation zone ahead of the notch and vice versa. Empirical relationships have been determined to correlate the impact energy of functionally graded steels to the morphology of layers.

Shape adaptive systems and structural configurations are necessary to fulfill the demands of a future unmanned aerial vehicle structure. Predominantly the present approaches are based on a passive load-bearing structure having smart actuation systems deforming the passive structural configuration elastically in the wanted shape. Therefore the actuation system can be based on discrete actuators, like electrically driven motors using gearing systems to transform the displacement into the structure or on smart material configurations placed on the load bearing passive structure, deforming the structure within the elastic region into the wanted shape. Using smart materials within load-bearing structures, elastic and static strength properties vary between passive and active structures. Matching these properties is a great challenge for future structural configurations. This is a successful approach for certain applications, e.g. smart rotor blade. The availability of two-dimensional smart actuator configurations with distinct actuation orientation allows the definition of a distinct load bearing active structure. Therefore the so called "web" of a spar-equivalent configuration was substituted by such a smart material actuator also known as macro fiber composite (MFC). Activating the web of the active cantilevered spar-configuration is resulting in a free end displacement. The main advantage lies in the fact that this approach will allow larger active displacements in comparison to a passive structural configuration with applied smart material actuators. Within the paper the process of developing the shear web based actuation system with configuration details will be illustrated and future steps will be proposed.

Intramolecular singlet energy transfer can be detected in a series of rigid bichromophoric molecules (1(n)) where a dimethoxynaphthalene chromophore and a carbonyl chromophore are separated by extended all-trans arrays of up to eight C-C {sigma} bonds (1(8)). In the series of compounds 2(n) kinks are introduced in the array of {sigma} bonds of the saturated hydrocarbon system, which bridges the chromophores. Singlet energy transfer is then much less efficient (i.e. in 2(6)) or even absent (i.e. in 2(8)), which supports the earlier interpretation of the energy transfer mechanism in 1(n) as being mainly mediated by through-bond exchange interaction and furthermore explains the virtual absence of such interaction in more flexible systems where the chromophores are linked by polymethylene bridges.

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting is an attractive technology for self-powered wireless sensor networks because of the potential to deliver power to the sensor nodes from mechanical vibration sources in the surrounding medium. Systematic device designs are required in order to increase performance along with materials development of high piezoelectric coefficients and design of circuits with high power transfer efficiency. In this work, we present refined structural and electrical modeling of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) for piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting, followed by parametric case studies on MEMS devices. Differences in geometric parameters including the size of the electrode and the number of IDE fingers for given device dimensions lead to substantial changes in harvesting performance such as capacitance, system coupling, voltage and power. When compared with parallel plate electrodes, use of IDEs results in much higher voltage generation by a factor of ten times while similar power levels are observed for both {3-1} and {3-3} configurations at optimal electrical loading conditions.

A comprehensive software control and systemconfiguration management process for flight-crucial digital control systems of advanced aircraft has been developed and refined to insure efficient flight system development and safe flight operations. Because of the highly complex interactions among the hardware, software, and system elements of state-of-the-art digital flight control system designs, a systems-wide approach to configuration control and management has been used. Specific procedures are implemented to govern discrepancy reporting and reconciliation, software and hardware change control, systems verification and validation testing, and formal documentation requirements. An active and knowledgeable configuration control board reviews and approves all flight systemconfiguration modifications and revalidation tests. This flexible process has proved effective during the development and flight testing of several research aircraft and remotely piloted research vehicles with digital flight control systems that ranged from relatively simple to highly complex, integrated mechanizations.

This document establishers the Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) for the software associated with the control system of the Sodium Removal System (SRS) located in the Interim Examination and Maintenance (IEM Cell) Facility of the FFTF Flux Test.

The method of a multiple configuration on high ratio systems in image sensor is an important subject. In such an experimental configuration, for aim to break through to large ratio multiple configurationsystems bottlenecks, achieve the field of continuous transformation, effect system close to the theoretical limit and configuration dexterity, such as the purpose, method in the design of the integrated sensor system process, the core technology of such a system are thoroughly analyzed and the factors important to the compromise. Theory is studied based on the theory of Gaussian optical system error distribution and comprehensive balancing algorithm; Global optimization method, developed at a system design thought and the optimization model. Results solved the MTF matching problem, research and evaluations shows that the zoom ratio of more than one hundred results in system MTF and so on as qualitative criterion to achieve requirements.

Vibration energy harvesting using piezoelectric material has received great research interest in the recent years. To enhance the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters, one important concern is to increase their operating bandwidth. Various techniques have been proposed for broadband energy harvesting, such as the resonance tuning approach, the frequency up-conversion technique, the multi-modal harvesting and the nonlinear technique. Usually, a nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvester can be easily developed by introducing a magnetic field. Either mono-stable or bi-stable response can be achieved using different magnetic configurations. However, most of the research work for nonlinear piezoelectric energy harvesting has focused on the SDOF cantilever beam. A recently reported linear 2-DOF harvester can achieve two close resonant frequencies with significant power outputs. However, for this linear configuration, although a broader bandwidth can be achieved, there exists a deep valley in-between the two response peaks. The presence of the valley will greatly deteriorate the performance of the energy harvester. To overcome this limitation, a nonlinear 2-DOF piezoelectric energy harvester is proposed in this article. This nonlinear harvester is developed from its linear counterpart by incorporating a magnetic field using a pair of magnets. Experimental parametric study is carried out to investigate the behavior of such harvester. With different configurations, both mono-stable and bi-stable behaviors are observed and studied. An optimal configuration of the nonlinear harvester is thus obtained, which can achieve significantly wider bandwidth than the linear 2-DOF harvester and at the same time overcome its limitation.

The constrained density functional theory-configuration interaction (CDFT-CI) method has previously been used to calculate ground-state energies and barrier heights, and to describe electronic excited states, in particular conical intersections. However, the method has been limited to evaluating the electronic energy at just a single nuclear configuration, with the gradient of the energy being available only via finite difference. In this paper, we present analytic gradients of the CDFT-CI energy with respect to nuclear coordinates, which gives the potential for accurate geometry optimization and molecular dynamics on both the ground and excited electronic states, a realm which is currently quite challenging for electronic structure theory. We report the performance of CDFT-CI geometry optimization for representative reaction transition states as well as molecules in an excited state. The overall accuracy of CDFT-CI for computing barrier heights is essentially unchanged whether the energies are evaluated at geometries obtained from quadratic configuration-interaction singles and doubles (QCISD) or CDFT-CI, indicating that CDFT-CI produces very good reaction transition states. These results open up tantalizing possibilities for future work on excited states.

The ever-increasing complexity of software systems makes them hard to comprehend, predict and tune due to emergent properties and non-deterministic behaviour. Complexity arises from the size of software systems and the wide variety of possible operating environments: the increasing choice of platforms and communication policies leads to ever more complex performance characteristics. In addition, software systems exhibit different behaviour under different workloads. Many software systems are designed to be configurable so that policies can be chosen to meet the needs of various stakeholders. For complex software systems it can be difficult to accurately predict the effects of a change and to know which configuration is most appropriate. This thesis demonstrates that it is useful to run automated experiments that measure a selection of systemconfigurations. Experiments can find configurations that meet the stakeholders' needs, find interesting behavioural characteristics, and help produce predictive models of the system's behaviour. The design and use of ACT (Automated Configuration Tool) for running such experiments is described, in combination a number of search strategies for deciding on the configurations to measure. Design Of Experiments (DOE) is discussed, with emphasis on Taguchi Methods. These statistical methods have been used extensively in manufacturing, but have not previously been used for configuring software systems. The novel contribution here is an industrial case study, applying the combination of ACT and Taguchi Methods to DC-Directory, a product from Data Connection Ltd (DCL). The case study investigated the applicability of Taguchi Methods for configuring complex software systems. Taguchi Methods were found to be useful for modelling and configuring DC- Directory, making them a valuable addition to the techniques available to system administrators and developers.

This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) describes the methodology for control of computer software developed and supported by the Systems Development and Integration (SD and I) organization of Lockheed Martin Services, Inc. (LMSI) for the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). This plan controls changes to the software and configuration files used by TMACS. The controlled software includes the Gensym software package, Gensym knowledge base files developed for TMACS, C-language programs used by TMACS, the operating system on the production machine, language compilers, and all Windows NT commands and functions which affect the operating environment. The configuration files controlled include the files downloaded to the Acromag and Westronic field instruments.

Knowledge of the global distribution of the vertical velocity of precipitation is important in in the study of energy transportation in the atmosphere, the climate and weather. Such knowledge can only be directly acquired with the use of spaceborne Doppler precipitation radars. Although the high relative speed of the radar with respect to the rainfall particles introduces significant broadening in the Doppler spectrum, recent studies have shown that the average vertical velocity can be measured to acceptable accuracy levels by appropriate selection of radar parameters. Furthermore, methods to correct for specific errors arising from NUBF effects and pointing uncertainties have recently been developed. In this paper we will present the results of the trade studies on the performances of a spaceborne Doppler radar with different system parameters configurations.

The detailed design of the forward and aft sumps, the accessory drive system, the lubrication system, and the piping/manifold configuration to be employed in the ICLS engine test of the Energy Efficient Engine is addressed in the report. The design goals for the above components were established based on the requirements of the test cell engine.

The detailed design of the forward and aft sumps, the accessory drive system, the lubrication system, and the piping/manifold configuration to be employed in the core engine test of the Energy Efficient Engine is addressed. The design goals for the above components were established based on the requirements of the test cell engine.

We ask whether it is possible to restore a multipass system alignment after a gas cell is inserted in the central region. Indeed, it is possible, and we report on a remarkably simple rearrangement of a laser multipass system, composed of two spherical mirrors and a gas cell with flat windows in the middle. For example, for a window of thickness d and refractive index of n, adjusting the mirror separation by approx. 2d(1-1n) is sufficient to preserve the laser beam alignment and tracing. This expression is in agreement with ray-tracing computations and our laboratory experiment. Insofar as our solution corrects for spherical aberrations, it may also find applications in microscopy.

We ask whether it is possible to restore a multipass system alignment after a gas cell is inserted in the central region. Indeed, it is possible, and we report on a remarkably simple rearrangement of a laser multipass system, composed of two spherical mirrors and a gas cell with flat windows in the middle. For example, for a window of thickness d and refractive index of n, adjusting the mirror separation by ≈2d(1-1/n) is sufficient to preserve the laser beam alignment and tracing. This expression is in agreement with ray-tracing computations and our laboratory experiment. Insofar as our solution corrects for spherical aberrations, it may also find applications in microscopy. PMID:22015409

The software programming environment used in the development of Guidance and Control Software (GCS) implementations used in a software error studies experiment conducted by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and the NASA-Langley is described. The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics RTCA/DO-178A guidelines are fulfilled, and requirements for document number 9 in which the hardware, software, and processes used to develop and maintain the software for the GCS project are described. The software programming environment for GCS largely consists of tools that are included in Digital Equipment Corporations software layered product library or are a part of the VAX/VMS baseline system.

One of the objectives of the High Performance Computing and Communication Project's (HPCCP) Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) is to provide a common and consistent way to manage applications, data, and engine simulations. The NPSS Configuration Management (CM) File Manager integrated with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) window management system provides a common look and feel for the configuration management of data, applications, and engine simulations for U.S. engine companies. In addition, CM File Manager provides tools to manage a simulation. Features include managing input files, output files, textual notes, and any other material normally associated with simulation. The CM File Manager includes a generic configuration management Application Program Interface (API) that can be adapted for the configuration management repositories of any U.S. engine company.

The Space Station Freedom (SSF) must recover water from various waste water sources to reduce 90 day water resupply demands for a four/eight person crew. The water recovery system options considered are summarized together with systemconfiguration merits and demerits, resource advantages and disadvantages, and water quality considerations used to select the SSF water recovery system.

The Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) describes the configuration management and control environment for HANDI 2000 for the PP and PS software as well as any custom developed software. This plan establishes requirements and processes for uniform documentation control, system change control, systematic evaluation and coordination of HANDI 2000. This SCMP becomes effective as this document is acceptance and will provide guidance through implementation efforts.

Embedded systems have become integral parts of a diverse range of systems from automobiles to critical infrastructure applications such as gas and electric power distribution. Unfortunately, research on computer security in general and intrusion detection in particular, has not kept pace. Furthermore, embedded systems, by their very nature, are application specific and therefore frameworks for developing application-specific intrusion detection systems for distributed embedded systems must be researched, designed, and implemented. In this paper, we present a configurable middleware-based intrusion detection framework. In particular, this paper presents a system model and a concrete implementation of a highly configurable intrusion detection framework that is integrated into MicroQoSCORBA, a highly configurable middleware framework developed for embedded systems. By exploiting the application-specific logic available to a middleware framework (e.g., object interfaces and method signatures), our integrated framework is able to autogenerate application-specific intrusion detection systems. Next, a set of configurable intrusion detection mechanisms suitable for embedded systems is presented. A performance evaluation of these mechanisms, run on two hardware platforms, is presented at the end of the paper.

This plan establishes the integrated management program for the evolving technical baseline developed through the systems engineering process. This configuration management program aligns with the criteria identified in the DOE Standard, DOE-STD-1073-93. Included are specific requirements for control of the systems engineering RDD-100 database, and electronic data incorporated in the database that establishes the Hanford Site Technical Baseline.

Design and configuration for wetlands treating greywater are usually based on literature data obtained from domestic wastewater operating wetlands. It is very important to determine proper criteria for design and configuration to provide efficiency and minimum maintenance, avoiding bad odour and clogging amongst others, ensuring the acceptance of householders. The aim of this work was to design a wetland system treating greywater for a household and determine whether the chosen criteria were appropriate. Some of the criteria taken into consideration for design and configuration were: quantitative and qualitative characteristics, desired removal of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (TSS), substrate and ornamental aspect of the system. The system was composed of a grease trap (kitchen), sedimentation tank, a horizontal flow constructed wetland (HF-CW), intermittent feeding system, and a vertical flow constructed wetland (VF-CW). The results showed that the suggested design and configuration were in accordance with the expected efficiency. Being a compact system, it was susceptible to peak flows, temporarily deteriorating the performance of the HF-CW. The hybrid system, however, showed to cope well with influent fluctuations. The overall performance of the system shows that the removal of turbidity, TSS, COD and BOD were over 88%, reaching 95% removal for both BOD and turbidity. PMID:19844046

A novel multireceiver configuration for carrier arraying and/or signal arraying is presented. The proposed configuration is obtained by formulating the carrier and/or signal arraying problem as an optimal estimation problem, and it consists of two stages. The first stage optimally estimates various phase processes received at different receivers with coupled phase-locked loops wherein the individual loops acquire and track their respective receivers' phase processes but are aided by each other in an optimal manner via LF error signals. The proposed configuration results in the minimization of the the effective radio loss at the combiner output, and thus maximization of energy per bit to noise power spectral density ratio is achieved. A novel adaptive algorithm for the estimator of the signal model parameters when these are not known a priori is also presented.

In this study we present a highly versatile and easily configurablesystem for measuring plant electrophysiological parameters and ionic flow rates, connected to a computer-controlled highly accurate positioning device. The modular software used allows easy customizable configurations for the measurement of electrophysiological parameters. Both the operational tests and the experiments already performed have been fully successful and rendered a low noise and highly stable signal. Assembly, programming and configuration examples are discussed. The system is a powerful technique that not only gives precise measuring of plant electrophysiological status, but also allows easy development of ad hoc configurations that are not constrained to plant studies. •We developed a highly modular system for electrophysiology measurements that can be used either in organs or cells and performs either steady or dynamic intra- and extracellular measurements that takes advantage of the easiness of visual object-oriented programming.•High precision accuracy in data acquisition under electrical noisy environments that allows it to run even in a laboratory close to electrical equipment that produce electrical noise.•The system makes an improvement of the currently used systems for monitoring and controlling high precision measurements and micromanipulation systems providing an open and customizable environment for multiple experimental needs. PMID:27298766

A recently reported algorithm for representing adiabatic states coupled by conical intersections using a quasi-diabatic state Hamiltonian in four and five atom systems is extended to treat nonadiabatic processes in considerably larger molecules. The method treats all internal degrees of freedom and uses electronic structure data from ab initio multireference configuration interaction wave functions with nuclear configuration selection based on quasi-classical surface hopping trajectories. The method is shown here to be able to treat ∼30 internal degrees of freedom including dissociative and large amplitude internal motion. Two procedures are introduced which are essential to the algorithm, a null space projector which removes basis functions from the fitting process until they are needed and a partial diagonalization technique which allows for automated, but accurate, treatment of the vicinity of extended seams of conical intersections of two or more states. These procedures are described in detail. The method is illustrated using the photodissociaton of phenol, C{sub 6}H{sub 5}OH(X{sup ~1}A{sup ′}) + hv → C{sub 6}H{sub 5}OH(A{sup ~1}A{sup ′}, B{sup ~1}A{sup ′′}) → C{sub 6}H{sub 5}O(X{sup ~2}B{sub 1}, A{sup ~2}B{sub 2}) + H as a test case. Ab initio electronic structure data for the 1,2,3{sup 1}A states of phenol, which are coupled by conical intersections, are obtained from multireference first order configuration interaction wave functions. The design of bases to simultaneously treat large amplitude motion and dissociation is described, as is the ability of the fitting procedure to smooth the irregularities in the electronic energies attributable to the orbital changes that are inherent to nonadiabatic processes.

The Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA) is a unique research aircraft designed to flight test advanced helicopter rotor system. Its principal flight test configuration is as a compound helicopter. The fixed wing configuration of the RSRA was primarily considered an energy fly-home mode in the event it became necessary to sever an unstable rotor system in flight. While it had always been planned to flight test the fixed wing configuration, the selection of the RSRA as the flight test bed for the X-wing rotor accelerated this schedule. This paper discusses the build-up to, and the test of, the RSRA fixed wing configuration. It is written primarily from the test pilot's perspective.

This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) provides the requirements for control of the Search Hanford Accessible Reports Electronically (SHARE) software and documentation. The SHARE system consists of the TOPIC Text Search and Retrieval software and the programs necessary to extract information from other sources to be placed in SHARE.

The rotor systems research aircraft (RSRA) has undergone ground and flight tests, primarily as a compound aircraft. The purpose was to train pilots and to check out and develop the design flight envelope. The preparation and flight test of the RSRA in the airplane, or fixed-wind, configuration are reviewed and the test results are discussed.

The functional requirements and the configuration of the data base management system are described. Techniques and technology which will enable more efficient and timely transfer of useful data from the sensor to the user, extraction of information by the user, and exchange of information among the users are demonstrated.

Nowadays, vision-based inspection systems are present in many stages of the industrial manufacturing process. Their versatility, which permits us to accommodate a broad range of inspection requirements, is, however, limited by the time consuming system setup performed at each production change. This work aims at providing a configuration assistant that helps to speed up this system setup, considering the peculiarities of industrial vision systems. The pursued principle, which is to maximize the discriminating power of the features involved in the inspection decision, leads to an optimization problem based on a high-dimensional objective function. Several objective functions based on various metrics are proposed, their optimization being performed with the help of various search heuristics such as genetic methods and simulated annealing methods. The experimental results obtained with an industrial inspection system are presented. They show the effectiveness of the presented approach, and validate the configuration assistant as well.

This document reports the findings of the performance tests conducted on the terminal configuration of the Mode S Beacon System. The tests were conducted at the FAA Technical Center using the first article system from the Mode S production contract. The Mode S system under test was a fully configured dual channel system having all required external interfaces connected to actual NAS equipment. A combination of live aircraft and simulated targets were used in the test conduct and data collection. The tests were conducted in accordance with the Mode S Master Test Plan (DOTIFAA/CT-88128) and the Node S Performance Test Plan (DOTIFAA/CT-Th 90124). The test goals are to characterize the performance of the Mode S system in key areas and to establish a baseline from which to evaluate future changes.

Inductrack III configurations are suited for use in transporting heavy freight loads. Inductrack III addresses a problem associated with the cantilevered track of the Inductrack II configuration. The use of a cantilevered track could present mechanical design problems in attempting to achieve a strong enough track system such that it would be capable of supporting very heavy loads. In Inductrack III, the levitating portion of the track can be supported uniformly from below, as the levitating Halbach array used on the moving vehicle is a single-sided one, thus does not require the cantilevered track as employed in Inductrack II.

Inductrack III configurations are suited for use in transporting heavy freight loads. Inductrack III addresses a problem associated with the cantilevered track of the Inductrack II configuration. The use of a cantilevered track could present mechanical design problems in attempting to achieve a strong enough track system such that it would be capable of supporting very heavy loads. In Inductrack III, the levitating portion of the track can be supported uniformly from below, as the levitating Halbach array used on the moving vehicle is a single-sided one, thus does not require the cantilevered track as employed in Inductrack II.

Formulas available for the weight estimation of monoplane wings cannot be said to be appropriate for the estimation of generally configured dual wing systems. In the present paper a method is described which simultaneously generates a structural weight estimate and a fully stressed, quasi-optimal structure for a model of a dual wing system. The method is fast and inexpensive. It is ideally suited to preliminary design. To illustrate the method, a dual wing system and a conventional wing system are sized. Numerical computation is shown to be suitably fast for both cases and, for both cases, convergence to a final configuration is shown to be quite rapid. To illustrate the validity of the method, a conventional wing is sized and its weight obtained by the present method is compared to its weight determined by a reputable weight estimation formula. The results are shown to be very close.

The present invention is related to the modifying of substrates with multiple modifying agents in a single continuous system. At least two processing chambers are configured for modifying the substrate in a continuous feed system. The processing chambers can be substantially isolated from one another by interstitial seals. Additionally, the two processing chambers can be substantially isolated from the surrounding atmosphere by end seals. Optionally, expansion chambers can be used to separate the seals from the processing chambers.

The present invention is related to the modifying of substrates with multiple modifying agents in a single continuous system. At least two processing chambers are configured for modifying the substrate in a continuous feed system. The processing chambers can be substantially isolated from one another by interstitial seals. Additionally, the two processing chambers can be substantially isolated from the surrounding atmosphere by end seals. Optionally, expansion chambers can be used to separate the seals from the processing chambers.

In mid-1991 NASA contracted with industry to study the high-speed civil transport (HSCT) flight deck challenges and assess the benefits, prior to initiating their High Speed Research Program (HSRP) Phase 2 efforts, then scheduled for FY-93. The results of this nine-month effort are presented, and a number of the most significant findings for the specified advanced concepts are highlighted: (1) a no nose-droop configuration; (2) a far forward cockpit location; and (3) advanced crew monitoring and control of complex systems. The results indicate that the no nose-droop configuration is critically dependent upon the design and development of a safe, reliable, and certifiable Synthetic Vision System (SVS). The droop-nose configuration would cause significant weight, performance, and cost penalties. The far forward cockpit location, with the conventional side-by-side seating provides little economic advantage; however, a configuration with a tandem seating arrangement provides a substantial increase in either additional payload (i.e., passengers) or potential downsizing of the vehicle with resulting increases in performance efficiencies and associated reductions in emissions. Without a droop nose, forward external visibility is negated and takeoff/landing guidance and control must rely on the use of the SVS. The technologies enabling such capabilities, which de facto provides for Category 3 all-weather operations on every flight independent of weather, represent a dramatic benefits multiplier in a 2005 global ATM network: both in terms of enhanced economic viability and environmental acceptability.

This manuscript considers the main features of the nonlinear dynamics of multiple irregular celestial body systems. The gravitational potential, static electric potential, and magnetic potential are considered. Based on the three established potentials, we show that three conservative values exist for this system, including a Jacobi integral. The equilibrium conditions for the system are derived and their stability analyzed. The equilibrium conditions of a celestial system comprised of n irregular bodies are reduced to 12n - 9 equations. The dynamical results are applied to simulate the motion of multiple-asteroid systems. The simulation is useful for the study of the stability of multiple irregular celestial body systems and for the design of spacecraft orbits to triple-asteroid systems discovered in the solar system. The dynamical configurations of the five triple-asteroid systems 45 Eugenia, 87 Sylvia, 93 Minerva, 216 Kleopatra, and 136617 1994CC, and the six-body system 134340 Pluto are calculated and analyzed.

The Transportation Surety Center, 6300, has been conducting continuing research into and development of information systems for the Configurable Transportation Security and Information Management System (CTSS) project, an Object-Oriented Framework approach that uses Component-Based Software Development to facilitate rapid deployment of new systems while improving software cost containment, development reliability, compatibility, and extensibility. The direction has been to develop a Fleet Management System (FMS) framework using object-oriented technology. The goal for the current development is to provide a software and hardware environment that will demonstrate and support object-oriented development commonly in the FMS Central Command Center and Vehicle domains.

The control monitor unit (CMU) uses configurable software technology for real-time mission command and control, telemetry processing, simulation, data acquisition, data archiving, and ground operations automation. The base technology is currently planned for the following control and monitor systems: portable Space Station checkout systems; ecological life support systems; Space Station logistics carrier system; and the ground system of the Delta Clipper (SX-2) in the Single-Stage Rocket Technology program. The CMU makes extensive use of commercial technology to increase capability and reduce development and life-cycle costs. The concepts and technology are being developed by McDonnell Douglas Space and Defense Systems for the Real-Time Systems Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center under the Payload Ground Operations Contract. A second function of the Real-Time Systems Laboratory is development and utilization of advanced software development practices.

Due to the recent availability of very large datasets, machine learning (ML) methods are gaining popularity as approximation and optimization tools in solid state physics. We have recently shown that supervised ML can also be used to identify and analyze soft particles, particles susceptible to rearrangement, in amorphous solids. Our method can be used to understand what makes certain configurations of particles more prone to rearrangement, and design stronger materials. We use unsupervised ML and nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods, where we do not need a ``training set'' to train the algorithm, to explore better representations of atomic configurations. These representations are shown to provide important physical insights into the structure of soft spots and stable regions in several computational and experimental glassy systems, as well as the energy landscapes of quantum mechanical systems based on Density Functional Theory calculations. By discovering an improved representation and visualization of relevant energy landscapes, discovery and optimization efforts can be simplified.

Over the past few years, pair coupled cluster doubles (pCCD) has shown promise for the description of strong correlation. This promise is related to its apparent ability to match results from doubly occupied configuration interaction (DOCI), even though the latter method has exponential computational cost. Here, by modifying the full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo algorithm to sample only the seniority zero sector of Hilbert space, we show that the DOCI and pCCD energies are in agreement for a variety of 2D Hubbard models, including for systems well out of reach for conventional configuration interaction algorithms. Our calculations are aided by the sign problem being much reduced in the seniority zero space compared with the full space. We present evidence for this and then discuss the sign problem in terms of the wave function of the system which appears to have a simplified sign structure. PMID:26957162

Over the past few years, pair coupled cluster doubles (pCCD) has shown promise for the description of strong correlation. This promise is related to its apparent ability to match results from doubly occupied configuration interaction (DOCI), even though the latter method has exponential computational cost. Here, by modifying the full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo algorithm to sample only the seniority zero sector of Hilbert space, we show that the DOCI and pCCD energies are in agreement for a variety of 2D Hubbard models, including for systems well out of reach for conventional configuration interaction algorithms. Our calculations are aided by the sign problem being much reduced in the seniority zero space compared with the full space. We present evidence for this and then discuss the sign problem in terms of the wave function of the system which appears to have a simplified sign structure.

A new concept of a solar power satellite systemconfigured by formation flying (Formation-Flying Solar Power Satellite: FF-SPS) is presented. The solar power satellite system consists of two sunlight reflectors and an Earth-pointing segment. The Earth-pointing segment is on a common GEO, and the reflectors are placed on the north and south using solar pressure to raise their orbit planes. In this way, three separate structures comprise one solar power satellite system without any large rotation mechanisms. Two candidate configurations of FF-SPS are presented, and their feasibility are discussed focusing on the orbital and attitude mechanics of the reflector. One and the other are to place the reflector perpendicularly above and below the sub-reflector and the center of mass of the Earth-pointing segment, respectively. A larger amount of the control propellant is required for orbital control in the former configuration, and for the attitude control in the latter configuration. Through some analyses, it is shown that the required propellant for the control of the latter concept is about half of the former concept, which is about only 20% larger than that for previous concepts. It is considered that the latter concept minimized the demand for the orbital control by taking advantage of the characteristics of FF-SPS; it is possible to achieve an arbitrary attitude control. The structural feasibility is also discussed through FEM analyses. It is revealed that it is possible to assemble the lightweight reflector structure with sufficient stiffness using deployable structures based on current technologies. Although FF-SPS requires more control propellant than previous concepts, its feasibility is technologically equivalent to previous ones. Moreover, FF-SPS is the first concept that has both Earth-pointing and Sun-pointing segments without any single point of failure.

Background Biomedical event extraction has been a major focus of biomedical natural language processing (BioNLP) research since the first BioNLP shared task was held in 2009. Accordingly, a large number of event extraction systems have been developed. Most such systems, however, have been developed for specific tasks and/or incorporated task specific settings, making their application to new corpora and tasks problematic without modification of the systems themselves. There is thus a need for event extraction systems that can achieve high levels of accuracy when applied to corpora in new domains, without the need for exhaustive tuning or modification, whilst retaining competitive levels of performance. Results We have enhanced our state-of-the-art event extraction system, EventMine, to alleviate the need for task-specific tuning. Task-specific details are specified in a configuration file, while extensive task-specific parameter tuning is avoided through the integration of a weighting method, a covariate shift method, and their combination. The task-specific configuration and weighting method have been employed within the context of two different sub-tasks of BioNLP shared task 2013, i.e. Cancer Genetics (CG) and Pathway Curation (PC), removing the need to modify the system specifically for each task. With minimal task specific configuration and tuning, EventMine achieved the 1st place in the PC task, and 2nd in the CG, achieving the highest recall for both tasks. The system has been further enhanced following the shared task by incorporating the covariate shift method and entity generalisations based on the task definitions, leading to further performance improvements. Conclusions We have shown that it is possible to apply a state-of-the-art event extraction system to new tasks with high levels of performance, without having to modify the system internally. Both covariate shift and weighting methods are useful in facilitating the production of high recall systems

The configurational entropy plays a central role in the thermodynamic scenarios of glass transition, such as Adam-Gibbs theory and random first-order transition theory. By definition, the configurational entropy Sc is the difference between the entropy of liquid and the vibrational entropy with structural rearrangement restricted, both of which can be obtained by means of thermodynamic integration. On the other hand, Sc is essentially a measure of the number of basins in the energy landscape, and therefore it can also be estimated by explicitly enumerating inherent structures. To this end, we first coarse-grain the vibrational motions by mapping configurations to Voronoi diagrams and then categorize them using canonical labelling. The Voronoi graph entropy is calculated as SG /kB = - ∑pi log (pi) , where pi is the probability of finding distinct graph i. We find for an n-particle subsystem of glass-forming hard-disk/sphere fluids, SG (n) scales linearly with n, and Sc can be estimated from the slope.

Structural configuration analysis of an advanced aircraft fuselage concept is investigated. This concept is characterized by a double-bubble section fuselage with rear mounted engines. Based on lessons learned from structural systems analysis of unconventional aircraft, high-fidelity finite-element models (FEM) are developed for evaluating structural performance of three double-bubble section configurations. Structural sizing and stress analysis are applied for design improvement and weight reduction. Among the three double-bubble configurations, the double-D cross-section fuselage design was found to have a relatively lower structural weight. The structural FEM weights of these three double-bubble fuselage section concepts are also compared with several cylindrical fuselage models. Since these fuselage concepts are different in size, shape and material, the fuselage structural FEM weights are normalized by the corresponding passenger floor area for a relative comparison. This structural systems analysis indicates that an advanced composite double-D section fuselage may have a relative structural weight ratio advantage over a conventional aluminum fuselage. Ten commercial and conceptual aircraft fuselage structural weight estimates, which are empirically derived from the corresponding maximum takeoff gross weight, are also presented and compared with the FEM- based estimates for possible correlation. A conceptual full vehicle FEM model with a double-D fuselage is also developed for preliminary structural analysis and weight estimation.

Fermilab's accelerator magnet R and D programs, including production of superconducting high gradient quadrupoles for the LHC insertion regions, require rigorous yet flexible magnetic measurement systems. Measurement systems must be capable of handling various types of hardware and extensible to all measurement technologies and analysis algorithms. A tailorable software system that satisfies these requirements is discussed. This single system, capable of distributed parallel signal processing, is built on top of a flexible component-based framework that allows for easy reconfiguration and run-time modification. Both core and domain-specific components can be assembled into various magnet test or analysis systems. The systemconfigured to comprise a rotating coil harmonics measurement is presented. Technologies as Java, OODB, XML, JavaBeans, software bus and component-based architectures are used.

Nozzle exit configurations and associated systems and methods are disclosed. An aircraft system in accordance with one embodiment includes a jet engine exhaust nozzle having an internal flow surface and an exit aperture, with the exit aperture having a perimeter that includes multiple projections extending in an aft direction. Aft portions of individual neighboring projections are spaced apart from each other by a gap, and a geometric feature of the multiple can change in a monotonic manner along at least a portion of the perimeter.

Nozzle exit configurations and associated systems and methods are disclosed. An aircraft system in accordance with one embodiment includes a jet engine exhaust nozzle having an internal flow surface and an exit aperture, with the exit aperture having a perimeter that includes multiple projections extending in an aft direction. Aft portions of individual neighboring projections are spaced apart from each other by a gap, and a geometric feature of the multiple can change in a monotonic manner along at least a portion of the perimeter.

Nowadays, vision-based inspection systems are present in many stages of the industrial manufacturing process. Their versatility, which permits to accommodate a broad range of inspection requirements, is however limited by the time consuming system setup performed at each production change. This work aims at providing a configuration assistant that helps to speed up this system setup, considering the peculiarities of industrial vision systems. The pursued principle, which is to maximize the discriminating power of the features involved in the inspection decision, leads to an optimization problem based on a high dimensional objective function. Several objective functions based on various metrics are proposed, their optimization being performed with the help of various search heuristics such as genetic methods and simulated annealing methods. The experimental results obtained with an industrial inspection system are presented, considering the particular case of the visual inspection of markings found on top of molded integrated circuits. These results show the effectiveness of the presented objective functions and search methods, and validate the configuration assistant as well.

Radiant cooling system has proven to be a low energy consumption system for building cooling needs. This study describes the use of cooling tower in radiant cooling system to improve the overall system efficiency. A comprehensive simulation feasibility study of the application of cooling tower in radiant cooling system was performed for the fifteen cities in different climatic zones of India. It was found that in summer, the wet bulb temperature (WBT) of the different climatic zones except warm-humid is suitable for the integration of cooling tower with radiant cooling system. In these climates, cooling tower can provide on average 24 C to 27 C water In order to achieve the energy saving potential, three different configurations of radiant cooling system have been compared in terms of energy consumption. The different configurations of the radiant cooling system integrated with cooling tower are: (1) provide chilled water to the floor, wall and ceiling mounted tubular installation. (2) provide chilled water to the wall and ceiling mounted tabular installation. In this arrangement a separate chiller has also been used to provide chilled water at 16 C to the floor mounted tubular installation. (3) provide chilled water to the wall mounted tabular installation and a separate chiller is used to provide chilled water at 16 C to the floor and ceiling mounted tabular installation. A dedicated outdoor air system is also coupled for dehumidification and ventilation in all three configurations. A conventional all-air system was simulated as a baseline to compare these configurations for assessing the energy saving potential.

We present a systematic study of the anisotropy configuration effects on the magnetic properties of exchange-biased ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) Co/IrMn bilayers. The interfacial unidirectional anisotropy is set extrinsically via a field cooling procedure with the magnetic field misaligned by an angle {beta}{sub FC} with respect to the intrinsic FM uniaxial anisotropy. High resolution angular dependence in-plane resolved Kerr magnetometry measurements have been performed for three different anisotropy arrangements, including collinear {beta}{sub FC} = 0 and two opposite noncollinear cases. The symmetry breaking of the induced noncollinear configurations results in a peculiar nonsymmetric magnetic behavior of the angular dependence of magnetization reversal, coercivity, and exchange bias. The experimental results are well reproduced without any fitting parameter by using a simple model including the induced anisotropy configuration. Our finding highlights the importance of the relative angle between anisotropies in order to properly account for the magnetic properties of exchange-biased FM/AFM systems.

In response to the need to minimize energy use in the new Social Security Administration, Northeast Program Service Center (SSA/NEPSC), now under construction in Jamaica, Queens, New York an analysis of building configuration was undertaken. The one million square foot SSA/NEPSC federal office building was originally designed for a competition won by the joint venture firms of The Gruzen Partnership and The Ehrenkrantz Group, architects and planners, and Syska and Hennessy, mechanical and electrical engineers. When completed, the building will have 3600 employees within a 900,000 GSF, eleven story structure that will form the centerpiece of the Jamaica, Queens revitalization plan. Although substantially redesigned from the competition, two important requirements for the final building design remained: low construction cost ($70/SF-1981, New York) and low yearly energy use (45,000 /SF/YR). The strict construction cost limitations necessitated extensive value engineering of the major building systems. including the configuration.

A high power, high performance communicatons satellite bus being developed is designed to satisfy a broad range of multimission payload requirements in a cost effective manner and is compatible with both STS and expendable launchers. Results are presented of tradeoff studies conducted to optimize the second generation mobile satellite system for its mass, power, and physical size. Investigations of the 20-meter antenna configuration, transponder linearization techniques, needed spacecraft modifications, and spacecraft power, dissipation, mass, and physical size indicate that the advanced spacecraft bus is capable of supporting the required payload for the satellite.

This is an optical/infrared telescope. It is a general purpose telescope. A segmented primary mirror is adopted with diameter 12 m and f-ratio 1.6. This telescope has prime focus, Cassegrain, Nasmyth and coudé systems. The prime focus system has a 1.5° field-of-view corrector with excellent image quality. It will be used for multi-object fibre spectroscopic observation and CCD photography. In this 12-m telescope, all systems except the prime focus system share the same secondary mirror; the Nasmyth and coudé systems are formed by adding relay mirrors; and the method of moving a secondary mirror is used to enhance image quality. All these features originate from the innovative optical system of the Chinese 2.16-m telescope. At the Cassegrain focus, a dark object spectrograph, for example, can be installed without any corrector; and in case a field of view is needed, a corrector may be added. Both the Nasmyth and coudé systems have exceptionally excellent image quality and the exchange between them occurs very conveniently. Many instruments in visible and infrared wavebands, some with an adaptive optics system, will be installed at the Nasmyth platform. Coudé system will be used for interferometry and for those instruments which require high stability. This configuration has a nearly full range of systems but it is not complex, and it can even be adopted by 20-40-m class telescopes.

In this optical/infrared telescope, a segmented primary mirror is adopted with diameter 12 m and f-ratio 1.6. This telescope has prime focus, Cassegrain, Nasmyth and coudé systems. The prime focus system has a 1.5° field of view corrector with excellent image quality. It will be used for multi-object fibre spectroscopic observation and CCD photography. In this 12 m telescope, all systems except the prime focus system share the same secondary mirror; the Nasmyth and coudé systems are formed by adding relay mirrors; and the method of moving a secondary mirror is used to enhance image quality. All these features originate from the innovative optical system of the Chinese 2.16 m telescope. At the Cassegrain focus, a dark object spectrograph, for example, can be installed without any corrector; and in case a field of view is needed, a corrector may be added. Both the Nasmyth and coudé systems have exceptionally excellent image quality and the exchange between them occurs very conveniently. Many instruments in visible and infrared wavebands, some with an adaptive optics system, will be installed at the Nasmyth platform. Coudé system will be used for interferometry and for those instruments which require high stability. This configuration has a nearly full range of systems but it is not complex, and it can even be adopted by 20-40 m class telescopes.

A grid generation system was developed that enables grid generation for complex configurations. The system called ICEM/CFD is described and its role in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications is presented. The capabilities of the system include full computer aided design (CAD), grid generation on the actual CAD geometry definition using robust surface projection algorithms, interfacing easily with known CAD packages through common file formats for geometry transfer, grid quality evaluation of the volume grid, coupling boundary condition set-up for block faces with grid topology generation, multi-block grid generation with or without point continuity and block to block interface requirement, and generating grid files directly compatible with known flow solvers. The interactive and integrated approach to the problem of computational grid generation not only substantially reduces manpower time but also increases the flexibility of later grid modifications and enhancements which is required in an environment where CFD is integrated into a product design cycle.

The advanced fighter should possess the performance such as super-sound cruising, stealth, agility, STOVL(Short Take-Off Vertical Landing),powerful communication and information processing. For this purpose, it is not enough only to improve the aerodynamic and propulsion system. More importantly, it is necessary to enhance the control system. A complete flight control system provides not only autopilot, auto-throttle and control augmentation, but also the given mission management. F-22 and JSF possess considerably outstanding flight control system on the basis of pave pillar and pave pace avionics architecture. But their control architecture is not enough integrated. The main purpose of this paper is to build a novel fighter control system architecture. The control system constructed on this architecture should be enough integrated, inexpensive, fault-tolerant, high safe, reliable and effective. And it will take charge of both the flight control and mission management. Starting from this purpose, this paper finishes the work as follows: First, based on the human nervous control, a three-leveled hierarchical control architecture is proposed. At the top of the architecture, decision level is in charge of decision-making works. In the middle, organization & coordination level will schedule resources, monitor the states of the fighter and switch the control modes etc. And the bottom is execution level which holds the concrete drive and measurement; then, according to their function and resources all the tasks involving flight control and mission management are sorted to individual level; at last, in order to validate the three-leveled architecture, a physical configuration is also showed. The configuration is distributed and applies some new advancement in information technology industry such line replaced module and cluster technology.

The energy transfer between quantum dots (QDs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) represents a popular transduction scheme in analytical assays that use nanomaterials. The impact of the spatial arrangement of the two types of nanoparticles on analytical performance has now been evaluated using a nucleic acid strand displacement assay. The first spatial arrangement (configuration 1) involved the assembly of a number of monovalently functionalized QD-oligonucleotide conjugates around a single central AuNP that was functionalized with complementary oligonucleotide sequences. The assembly of these complexes, and subsequent disassembly via target oligonucleotide-mediated displacement, were used to evaluate energy transfer efficiencies. Furthermore, the inner filter effect of AuNPs on the fluorescence intensity of the QD was studied. AuNPs of three different diameters (6, 13, and 30 nm) were used in these studies. Configuration 2 was based on the placement of monovalently functionalized AuNP-oligonucleotide conjugates around a single QD that was functionalized with a complementary oligonucleotide. The optimal assay configuration, established by evaluating energy transfer efficiencies and inner filter effects, was obtained by arranging at most 15 QDs around the 13 nm AuNP (configuration 1). These assays provided a 2.5-fold change in fluorescence intensity in the presence of target oligonucleotides. To obtain the same response with configuration 2 required the placement of three 6 nm AuNPs around the QD. This resulted in configuration 2 having a 5-fold lower fluorescence intensity when compared to configuration 1. The use of low-cost detection systems (digital camera) further emphasized the higher analytical performance of configuration 1. Response curves obtained using these detection systems demonstrated that configuration 1 had a 10-fold higher sensitivity when compared to configuration 2. This study provides an important framework for the development of sensitive assays

There are provided optical fiber configurations that provide for the delivery of laser energy, and in particular, the transmission and delivery of high power laser energy over great distances. These configurations further are hardened to protect the optical fibers from the stresses and conditions of an intended application. The configurations provide means for determining the additional fiber length (AFL) need to obtain the benefits of such additional fiber, while avoiding bending losses.

There are provided optical fiber configurations that provide for the delivery of laser energy, and in particular, the transmission and delivery of high power laser energy over great distances. These configurations further are hardened to protect the optical fibers from the stresses and conditions of an intended application. The configurations provide means for determining the additional fiber length (AFL) need to obtain the benefits of such additional fiber, while avoiding bending losses.

A comprehensive software control and systemconfiguration management process for flight-crucial digital control systems of advanced aircraft has been developed and refined to insure efficient flight system development and safe flight operations. Because of the highly complex interactions among the hardware, software, and system elements of state-of-the-art digital flight control system designs, a systems-wide approach to configuration control and management has been used. Specific procedures are implemented to govern discrepancy reporting and reconciliation, software and hardware change control, systems verification and validation testing, and formal documentation requirements. An active and knowledgeable configuration control board reviews and approves all flight systemconfiguration modifications and revalidation tests. This flexible process has proved effective during the development and flight testing of several research aircraft and remotely piloted research vehicles with digital flight control systems that ranged from relatively simple to highly complex, integrated mechanizations.

This report presents a review of the software configuration management (CM) plans developed for the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF) and the Space Station Control Center. The scope of the CM assessed in this report is the Systems Integration and Testing Phase of the Ground Systems development life cycle. This is the period following coding and unit test and preceding delivery to operational use. This report is one of a series from a study of the interfaces among the Ground Systems Development Environment (GSDE), the development systems for the SSTF and the SSCC, and the target systems for SSCC and SSTF. This is the last report in the series. The focus of this report is on the CM plans developed by the contractors for the Mission Systems Contract (MSC) and the Training Systems Contract (TSC). CM requirements are summarized and described in terms of operational software development. The software workflows proposed in the TSC and MSC plans are reviewed in this context, and evaluated against the CM requirements defined in earlier study reports. Recommendations are made to improve the effectiveness of CM while minimizing its impact on the developers.

For biomolecules in solution, changes in configurational entropy are thought to contribute substantially to the free energies of processes like binding and conformational change. In principle, the configurational entropy can be strongly affected by pairwise and higher-order correlations among conformational degrees of freedom. However, the literature offers mixed perspectives regarding the contributions that changes in correlations make to changes in configurational entropy for such processes. Here we take advantage of powerful techniques for simulation and entropy analysis to carry out rigorous in silico studies of correlation in binding and conformational changes. In particular, we apply information-theoretic expansions of the configurational entropy to well-sampled molecular dynamics simulations of a model host–guest system and the protein bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. The results bear on the interpretation of NMR data, as they indicate that changes in correlation are important determinants of entropy changes for biologically relevant processes and that changes in correlation may either balance or reinforce changes in first-order entropy. The results also highlight the importance of main-chain torsions as contributors to changes in protein configurational entropy. As simulation techniques grow in power, the mathematical techniques used here will offer new opportunities to answer challenging questions about complex molecular systems. PMID:24702693

Dexterous manipulation and grasping in telerobotic systems depends on the integration of high-performance sensors, displays, actuators and controls into systems in which careful consideration has been given to human perception and tolerance. Research underway at the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) has the objective of enhancing the performance of these systems and their components, and quantifying the effects of the many electrical, mechanical, control, and human factors that affect their performance. This will lead to a fundamental understanding of performance issues which will in turn allow designers to evaluate sensor, actuator, display, and control technologies with respect to generic measures of dexterous performance. As part of this effort, an experimental test bed was developed which has telerobotic components with exceptionally high fidelity in master/slave operation. A Telerobotic Performance Analysis System has also been developed which allows performance to be determined for various systemconfigurations and electro-mechanical characteristics. Both this performance analysis system and test bed experiments are described.

The Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS) is a precision spaceflight instrument designed to measure and characterize the microgravity environment existing in the US Lab Module of the International Space Station. Both vibratory and quasi-steady triaxial acceleration data are acquired and provided to an Ethernet data link. The MAMS Double Mid-Deck Locker (DMDL) EXPRESS Rack payload meets all the ISS IDD and ICD interface requirements as discussed in the paper which also presents flight configuration illustrations. The overall MAMS sensor and data acquisition performance and verification data are presented in addition to a discussion of the Command and Data Handling features implemented via the ISS, downlink and the GRC Telescience Center displays.

This paper describes a rule-based expert system which assists the user in configuring a network for Air Force terminals using the Milstar satellite system. The network configuration expert system approach uses CLIPS. The complexity of network configuration is discussed, and the methods used to model it are described.

We propose an internal (on-chip) Wheatstone bridge configuration to evaluate the efficiency of near-field transducers (NFT) as used in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). The electric field enhancement between the transducer and the image plane is monitored by measuring the resistance of metal electrodes composing the image plane. The absorption of the enhanced electric field causes an increase in the metal temperature, and thereby, in its resistance whose variation is monitored with an internal Wheatstone bridge which is accurately balanced in the absence of the electric field. PMID:27075120

We propose an internal (on-chip) Wheatstone bridge configuration to evaluate the efficiency of near-field transducers (NFT) as used in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). The electric field enhancement between the transducer and the image plane is monitored by measuring the resistance of metal electrodes composing the image plane. The absorption of the enhanced electric field causes an increase in the metal temperature, and thereby, in its resistance whose variation is monitored with an internal Wheatstone bridge which is accurately balanced in the absence of the electric field.

We propose an internal (on-chip) Wheatstone bridge configuration to evaluate the efficiency of near-field transducers (NFT) as used in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). The electric field enhancement between the transducer and the image plane is monitored by measuring the resistance of metal electrodes composing the image plane. The absorption of the enhanced electric field causes an increase in the metal temperature, and thereby, in its resistance whose variation is monitored with an internal Wheatstone bridge which is accurately balanced in the absence of the electric field. PMID:27075120

A software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) based on the geometry of the fringe reflection or phase measuring deflectometry method was developed for rapidly, robustly, and accurately measuring large, highly aspherical shapes such as solar collectors and primary mirrors for astronomical telescopes. In addition to using phase shifting methods for data collection and reduction, we explore the test from the point view of performing traditional optical testing methods, such as Hartmann or Hartmann-Shack tests, in a reverse way. Using this concept, the slope data calculation and unwrapping in the test can also be done with centroiding and line-scanning methods. These concepts expand the test to work in more general situations where fringe illumination is not practical. Experimental results show that the test can be implemented without complex calibration for many applications by taking the geometric advantage of working near the center curvature of the test part. The results also show that the test has a large dynamic range, can achieve measurement accuracy comparable with interferometric methods, and can provide a good complement to interferometric tests in certain circumstances. A variation of this method is also useful for measuring refractive optics and optical systems. As such, SCOTS provides optical manufacturers with a new tool for performing quantitative full field system evaluation. PMID:20697443

A Deep Space Habitat (DSH) is the crew habitation module designed for long duration missions. Although humans have lived in space for many years, there has never been a habitat beyond low-Earth-orbit. As part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Habitation Project, a study was conducted to develop weightless habitat configurations using systems based on International Space Station (ISS) designs. Two mission sizes are described for a 4-crew 60-day mission, and a 4-crew 500-day mission using standard Node, Lab, and Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) sized elements, and ISS derived habitation systems. These durations were selected to explore the lower and upper bound for the exploration missions under consideration including a range of excursions within the Earth-Moon vicinity, near earth asteroids, and Mars orbit. Current methods for sizing the mass and volume for habitats are based on mathematical models that assume the construction of a new single volume habitat. In contrast to that approach, this study explored the use of ISS designs based on existing hardware where available and construction of new hardware based on ISS designs where appropriate. Findings included a very robust design that could be reused if the DSH were assembled and based at the ISS and a transportation system were provided for its return after each mission. Mass estimates were found to be higher than mathematical models due primarily to the use of multiple ISS modules instead of one new large module, but the maturity of the designs using flight qualified systems have potential for improved cost, schedule, and risk benefits.

A Deep Space Habitat (DSH) is the crew habitation module designed for long duration missions. Although humans have lived in space for many years, there has never been a habitat beyond low-Earth-orbit. As part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Habitation Project, a study was conducted to develop weightless habitat configurations using systems based on International Space Station (ISS) designs. Two mission sizes are described for a 4-crew 60-day mission, and a 4-crew 500-day mission using standard Node, Lab, and Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) sized elements, and ISS derived habitation systems. These durations were selected to explore the lower and upper bound for the exploration missions under consideration including a range of excursions within the Earth-Moon vicinity, near earth asteroids, and Mars orbit. Current methods for sizing the mass and volume for habitats are based on mathematical models that assume the construction of a new single volume habitat. In contrast to that approach, this study explored the use of ISS designs based on existing hardware where available and construction of new hardware based on ISS designs where appropriate. Findings included a very robust design that could be reused if the DSH were assembled and based at the ISS and a transportation system were provided for its return after each mission. Mass estimates were found to be higher than mathematical models due primarily to the use of multiple ISS modules instead of one new large module, but the maturity of the designs using flight qualified systems have potential for improved cost, schedule, and risk benefits.

The Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) describes the configuration management and control environment for HANDI 2000 for the PP and PS software, as well as any custom developed software. This plan establishes requirements and processes for uniform documentation and coordination of HANDI 2000. This SCMP becomes effective as of this document's acceptance and will provide guidance through implementation efforts.

A reference handbook of configuration data and design information is presented. It treats the overall system definition, operations and control, and telecommunication service system including link budgets. A brief description of the user transceiver and ground station is presented. A final section includes a summary description of the TDR spacecraft and all the subsystems. The data presented are largely in tabular form for easy reference.

The importance of reconfigurable hardware is increasing steadily. For example, the primary approach of using adaptive systems based on programmable gate arrays and configurable routing resources has gone mainstream and high-performance programmable logic devices are rivaling traditional application-specific hardwired integrated circuits. Also, the idea of moving from the 2-D domain into a 3-D design which stacks several active layers above each other is gaining momentum in research and industry, to cope with the demand for smaller devices with a higher scale of integration. However, optimized arithmetic blocks in course-grain reconfigurable arrays as well as field-programmable architectures still play an important role. In countless digital systems and signal processing applications, the multiplication is one of the critical challenges, where in many cases a trade-off between area usage and data throughput has to be made. But the a priori choice of word-length and number representation can also be replaced by a dynamic choice at run-time, in order to improve flexibility, area efficiency and the level of parallelism in computation. In this contribution, we look at an adaptive computing system called 3-D-SoftChip to point out what parameters are crucial to implement flexible multiplier blocks into optimized elements for accelerated processing. The 3-D-SoftChip architecture uses a novel approach to 3-dimensional integration based on flip-chip bonding with indium bumps. The modular construction, the introduction of interfaces to realize the exchange of intermediate data, and the reconfigurable sign handling approach will be explained, as well as a beneficial way to handle and distribute the numerous required control signals.

A solar dynamic (SD) space power system has been under test at the NASA Lewis Research Center since 1994. The SD Ground Test Demonstration (GTD) system includes a solar concentrator, heat receiver with thermal energy storage, Brayton power conversion unit, and radiator installed in a thermal-vacuum chamber with a solar simulator. The Brayton unit has been operated with two different turboalternator compressor (TAC) assemblies, one which included a Rice Lundell alternator and another which incorporated a permanent magnet (PM) alternator. The Rice alternator was part of the mini-Brayton rotating unit, designed and built during the 1970's and refurbished for the GTD. The PM TAC was a development unit from the Joint US/Russian SD Flight Project. This paper highlights the operational differences (and similarities) between the Rice and PM TAC configurations including a comparative evaluation of startup characteristics and operating performance. The two alternator configurations were tested under similar thermal conditions, as an interchangeable component within the SD system. The electrical characteristics of the two units, however, dictated the use of significantly different power conditioning and control strategies. The electrical control architectures are described and compared. Test data are presented on TAC startup and system operating performance for both configurations.

Two recently developed methods for solving the molecular vibrational Schrodinger equation, namely, the parallel vibrational multiple window configuration interaction and the vibrational mean field configuration interaction, are presented and compared on the same potential energy surface of ethylene oxide, c-C(2)H(4)O. It is demonstrated on this heptatomic system with strong resonances that both approaches converge towards the same fundamental frequencies. This confirms their ability to tackle the vibrational problem of large molecules for which full configuration interaction calculations are not tractable. PMID:17979327

Vibrational energy harvesters scavenge ambient vibrational energy, offering an alternative to batteries for the autonomous operation of low power electronics. Velocity amplified electromagnetic generators (VAEGs) utilize the velocity amplification effect to increase power output and operational bandwidth, compared to linear resonators. A detailed experimental analysis of the influence of mass ratio and number of degrees-of-freedom (dofs) on the dynamic behaviour and power output of a macro-scale VAEG is presented. Various mass configurations are tested under drop-test and sinusoidal forced excitation, and the system performances are compared. For the drop-test, increasing mass ratio and number of dofs increases velocity amplification. Under forced excitation, the impacts between the masses are more complex, inducing greater energy losses. This results in the 2-dof systems achieving the highest velocities and, hence, highest output voltages. With fixed transducer size, higher mass ratios achieve higher voltage output due to the superior velocity amplification. Changing the magnet size to a fixed percentage of the final mass showed the increase in velocity of the systems with higher mass ratios is not significant enough to overcome the reduction in transducer size. Consequently, the 3:1 mass ratio systems achieved the highest output voltage. These findings are significant for the design of future reduced-scale VAEGs.

This document provides configuration management for the Distributed Control System (DCS), the Gaseous Effluent Monitoring System (GEMS-100) System, the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), the Canister Receiving Crane (CRC) CRN-001 PLC, and both North and South vestibule door interlock system PLCs at the Canister Storage Building (CSB). This procedure identifies and defines software configuration items in the CSB control and monitoring systems, and defines configuration control throughout the system life cycle. Components of this control include: configuration status accounting; physical protection and control; and verification of the completeness and correctness of these items.

An internally illuminated photobioreactor (IIPBR) design is proposed for energy-efficient biomass production. Theoretical rationale of the IIPBR design and its advantages over the traditional bubble column photobioreactors (PBRs) are presented, followed by experimental results from prototype scale cultivation of freshwater and marine algal strains in an 18L IIPBR. Based on theoretical considerations, the proposed IIPBR design has the potential to support 160% higher biomass density and higher biomass productivity per unit energy input, B/E, than a bubble column PBR of equal incident area per unit culture volume. Experimental B/E values recorded in this study with fresh water algae and marine algae (1.42 and 0.37 gW(-1)d(-1), respectively) are at least twice as those reported in the literature for comparable species cultivated in bubble column and airlift PBRs. PMID:23079413

A process simulation model of an externally reformed molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system is used to analyze quantitatively parametric effects on system efficiency. In order to verify the MCFC process simulation model, a 25 kW system is analyzed on the basis of experimental data and its calculated efficiency is found to be reasonable. The overall system efficiency of a high-temperature fuel cell system, especially a MCFC, cannot be increased without proper thermal integration between the heat recovery units and without additional power from auxiliary power generation units such as turbines. The results of the simulation show that the configuration of the unit operators in a given system has a great effect on system efficiency, while system size and operating conditions have slightly less effects. Based on the systemconfiguration, the optimal operating conditions (including fuel, oxidant utilization, and recycle ratio) can be specified to maximize the system efficiency.

Utilizing a computer-based data acquisition system, the influence o depth of the A/sub 2/ and B soil horizons on implement draft of a subsoiler and subsoiler-bedder was measured for different subsoiling depths. Implement ftsgy was primarily a function of subsoiling depth for the soil moisture content existing at the time of this study. Forward speed, slip and actual power delivered to the implement are reported. 18 refs.

The fusion energy conversion design approach, the Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) - when burning deuterium and helium-3, offers a new method and concept for space transportation with high energy demanding programs, like the Manned Mars Mission and planetary science outpost missions require. FRC's will increase safety, reduce costs, and enable new missions by providing a high specific power propulsion system from a high performance fusion engine system that can be optimally designed. By using spacecraft powered by FRC's the space program can fulfill High Energy Space Missions (HESM) in a manner not otherwise possible. FRC's can potentially enable the attainment of high payload mass fractions while doing so within shorter flight times.

The performance requirements, the main parameters, and the configuration of the MSAT spacecraft are reviewed. The major features of the communications subsystem are discussed in some detail. Key technology items include the L-band Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier which must operate with a high DC to RF power efficiency and generate low intermodulation when loaded with multi-carrier signals; and the large diameter deployable L-band antenna. The development status and expected performance of these spacecraft components is examined.

The National Airspace System (NAS) is under great pressure to safely and efficiently handle the record-high air traffic volume nowadays, and will face even greater challenge to keep pace with the steady increase of future air travel demand, since the air travel demand is projected to increase to two to three times the current level by 2025. The inefficiency of traffic flow management initiatives causes severe airspace congestion and frequent flight delays, which cost billions of economic losses every year. To address the increasingly severe airspace congestion and delays, the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is proposed to transform the current static and rigid radar based system to a dynamic and flexible satellite based system. New operational concepts such as Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) have been under development to allow more flexibility required to mitigate the demand-capacity imbalances in order to increase the throughput of the entire NAS. In this dissertation, we address the DAC problem in the en route and terminal airspace under the framework of NextGen. We develop a series of algorithms to facilitate the implementation of innovative concepts relevant with DAC in both the en route and terminal airspace. We also develop a performance evaluation framework for comprehensive benefit analyses on different aspects of future sector design algorithms. First, we complete a graph based sectorization algorithm for DAC in the en route airspace, which models the underlying air route network with a weighted graph, converts the sectorization problem into the graph partition problem, partitions the weighted graph with an iterative spectral bipartition method, and constructs the sectors from the partitioned graph. The algorithm uses a graph model to accurately capture the complex traffic patterns of the real flights, and generates sectors with high efficiency while evenly distributing the workload among the generated sectors. We further improve

Project W-059 installed a new B Plant Canyon Ventilation System. Monitoring and control of the system is implemented by the Canyon Ventilation Control System (CVCS). This Software Configuration Management Plan provides instructions for change control of the CVCS.

Some basic results on the performance of the Cedar multiprocessor system are presented. Empirical results on the 16 processor 16 memory bank systemconfiguration, which show the behavior of the Cedar system under different modes of operation are presented.

This databook contains fluid system requirements and system descriptions for Space Station program elements including the United States and International modules, integrated fluid systems, attached payloads, fluid servicers and vehicle accommodation facilities. Separate sections are devoted to each of the program elements and include a discussion of the overall system requirements, specific fluid systems requirements and systems descriptions. The systems descriptions contain configurations, fluid inventory data and component lists. In addition, a list of information sources is referenced at the end of each section.

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A full configuration interaction (CI) with a norm-conserving pseudopotential procedure to determine potential energy surfaces is proposed. Analysis of the potentiality and the possible sources of inaccuracies of the methodology is given in terms of its application to the generation of the ground-state potential energy curves of the LiH and Li2 molecules. The vibrational energy levels were obtained using the discrete variable representation. The agreement between our results and those from Rydberg-Klein-Ress-derived potentials is very good. The extension of this procedure to larger systems is straightforward.

Configuration data and design information for a Delta 2914 launched configuration with greatly enhanced telecommunication service over the Part I Delta 2914 configuration is contained. The overall system definition, operations and control, and telecommunication service system, including link budgets are discussed. A brief description of the user transceiver and ground station is presented. A final section includes a summary description of the TDR spacecraft and all the subsystems. The data presented are largely in tabular form.

A discussion on wind energysystems involved with the DOE wind energy program is presented. Some of the problems associated with wind energysystems are discussed. The cost, efficiency, and structural design of wind energysystems are analyzed.

The superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system is working on around 30 K, because the magnet is made of high temperature superconductor. To maintain the cryogenic temperature, the superconducting coil is cooled by cryogen, helium gas or liquid neon. But there are some weak points in the cryogen cooling system. For example periodic charge of the cryogen and size is big and so on. So, we have designed the conduction cooling system for toroidal configuration HTS SMES. The toroidal type HTS SMES has some merits, so it is very small magnetic field leakage, and magnetic field applied perpendicular to the tape surface can be reduced. Our system has 28 numbers of HTS double pancake coils and they are arrayed toroidal configuration. The toroidal inner radius is 162 mm, and outer radius is 599 mm, and height is about 162 mm. In this study, we have designed the cooling structure and analyzed temperature distribution of cooling path, thermal stress and deformation of the cooling structure.

The development of flight-control facilities for the Apollo program is reviewed from the viewpoint of the user organization. These facilities are treated in three categories: data systems, ground-based display and control systems, and configuration management. The effects of certain Apollo program factors on the selection, sizing, and configuration management of these systems are discussed. Recommendations are made regarding improvement of the systems and the reduction of system sensitivity to the program factors.

Virtualization technologies are widely deployed in data centers to improve system utilization. However, they increase the workload for operators, who have to manage the structure of virtual networks in data centers. A virtual-network management system which automates the integration of the configurations of the virtual networks is provided. The proposed system collects the configurations from server virtualization platforms and VLAN-supported switches, and integrates these configurations according to a newly developed XML-based management information model for virtual-network configurations. Preliminary evaluations show that the proposed system helps operators by reducing the time to acquire the configurations from devices and correct the inconsistency of operators' configuration management database by about 40 percent. Further, they also show that the proposed system has excellent scalability; the system takes less than 20 minutes to acquire the virtual-network configurations from a large scale network that includes 300 virtual machines. These results imply that the proposed system is effective for improving the configuration management process for virtual networks in data centers.

In this paper, a Hybrid EnergySystem (HES) configuration is modeled in Modelica. Hybrid EnergySystems (HES) have as their defining characteristic the use of one or more energy inputs, combined with the potential for multiple energy outputs. Compared to traditional energysystems, HES provide additional operational flexibility so that high variability in both energy production and consumption levels can be absorbed more effectively. This is particularly important when including renewable energy sources, whose output levels are inherently variable, determined by nature. The specific HES configuration modeled in this paper include two energy inputs: a nuclear plant, and a series of wind turbines. In addition, the system produces two energy outputs: electricity and synthetic fuel. The models are verified through simulations of the individual components, and the system as a whole. The simulations are performed for a range of component sizes, operating conditions, and control schemes.

DANESS is an integrated process model for nuclear energysystems allowing the simulation of multiple reactors and fuel cycles in a continuously changing nuclear reactor park configuration. The model is energy demand driven and simulates all nuclear fuel cycle facilites, up to 10 reactors and fuels. Reactor and fuel cycle facility history are traced and the cost of generating energy is calculated per reactor and for total nuclear energysystem. The DANESS model aims at performing dynamic systems analysis of nuclear energy development used for integrated analysis of development paths for nuclear energy, parameter scoping for new nuclear energysystems, economic analysis of nuclear energy, government role analysis, and education.

An analytical study was conducted to evaluate the relative improvements in aircraft ride qualities that resulted from utilizing several control law configurations that were optimized for pilot handling qualities only. The airplane configuration used was an executive jet transport in the approach configuration. The control law configurations included the basic system, a rate feedback system, three command augmentation systems (rate command, attitude command, and rate command/attitude hold), and a control wheel steering system. Both the longitudinal and lateral directional axes were evaluated. A representative example of each control law configuration was optimized for pilot handling qualities on a fixed base simulator. The root mean square airplane responses to turbulence were calculated, and predictions of ride quality ratings were computed by using three models available in the literature.

Given the desirability of reducing fossil fuel consumption, together with the increasing production of combustible solid wastes, there is clearly a need for waste treatment systems that achieve both volume reduction and energy recovery. Direct incineration method is one such system. The aim of this work was to analyze the municipal solid waste incineration plant currently under construction in the province of Turin (Piedmont, North Italy), especially the potential for energy recovery, and the consequent environmental effects. We analyzed two kinds of energy recovery: electric energy (electrical configuration) only, and both electric and thermal energy (cogenerative configuration), in this case with a different connection hypothesis to the district heating network. After we had evaluated the potential of the incinerator and considered local demographic, energy and urban planning effects, we assumed different possible connections to the district heating network. We computed the local and global environmental balances based on the characteristics of the flue gas emitted from the stack, taking into consideration the emissions avoided by the substituted sources. The global-scale results provided relevant information on the carbon dioxide emissions parameter. The results on the local scale were used as reference values for the implementation of a Gaussian model (Aermod) that allows evaluation of the actual concentration of the pollutants released into the atmosphere. The main results obtained highlight the high energy efficiency of the combined production of heat and electricity, and the opportunity to minimize the environmental impact by including cogeneration in a district heating scheme. PMID:24942837

A novel symmetrically skewed configuration for an attitude reference system (ARS) using three dynamically tuned gyros (DTGs) is developed. Simple schemes for autonomous detection and identification of a faulty DTG in real time and subsequent reconfiguration of the attitude estimation algorithm are proposed. The performance of the present configuration is shown to be better than that of configurations proposed earlier, and it is shown to have better features. It tolerates all types of failures of DTG failures, requires very simple computations, and gives less error in attitude estimate than the other configurations.

The study of a comparative analysis of distinct multiplex and fault-tolerant configurations for a PLC-based safety system from a reliability point of view is presented. It considers simplex, duplex and fault-tolerant triple redundancy configurations. The standby unit in case of a duplex configuration has a failure rate which is k times the failure rate of the standby unit, the value of k varying from 0 to 1. For distinct values of MTTR and MTTF of the main unit, MTBF and availability for these configurations are calculated. The effect of duplexing only the PLC module or only the sensors and the actuators module, on the MTBF of the configuration, is also presented. The results are summarized and merits and demerits of various configurations under distinct environments are discussed.

As emphasis shifts from optimum-performance aerospace systems to least lift-cycle costs, systems designs must seek, adapt, and innovate cost improvement techniques in design through operations. The systems design process of concept, definition, and design was assessed for the types and flow of total quality management techniques that may be applicable in a launch vehicle systems design analysis. Techniques discussed are task ordering, quality leverage, concurrent engineering, Pareto's principle, robustness, quality function deployment, criteria, and others. These cost oriented techniques are as applicable to aerospace systems design analysis as to any large commercial system.

A computer application system is described which provides nuclear reactor power plant operators with an improved decision support system. This system combines traditional computer applications such as graphics display with artificial intelligence methodologies such as reasoning and diagnosis so as to improve plant operability. This paper discusses the issues, and a solution, involved with the system integration of applications developed using traditional and artificial intelligence languages.

We examine how the two different mechanisms proposed historically for biological evolution compare for the determination of crystal structures from random initial lattice configurations. The Darwinian theory of evolution contends that the genetic makeup inherited at birth is the one passed on during mating to new offspring, in which case evolution is a product of environmental pressure and chance. In addition to this mechanism, Lamarck surmised that individuals can also pass on traits acquired during their lifetime. Here we show that the minimum-energyconfigurations of a binary A{sub 1-x}B{sub x} alloy in the full 0 {le} x {le} 1 concentration range can be found much faster if the conventional Darwinian genetic progression--mating configurations and letting the lowest-energy (fittest) offspring survive--is allowed to experience Lamarckian-style fitness improvements during its lifetime. Such improvements consist of A {leftrightarrow} B transmutations of some atomic sites (not just atomic relaxations) guided by 'virtual-atom' energy gradients. This hybrid evolution is shown to provide an efficient solution to a generalized Ising Hamiltonian, illustrated here by finding the ground states of face-centered-cubic Au{sub 1-x}Pd{sub x} using a cluster-expansion functional fitted to first-principles total energies. The statistical rate of success of the search strategies and their practical applicability are rigorously documented in terms of average number of evaluations required to find the solution out of 400 independent evolutionary runs with different random seeds. We show that all exact ground states of a 12-atom supercell (2{sup 12} configurations) can be found within 330 total-energy evaluations, whereas a 36-atom supercell (2{sup 36} configurations) requires on average 39,000 evaluations. Thus, this problem cannot be currently addressed with confidence using costly energy functionals [e.g., density-functional theory (DFT) based] unless it is limited to {le} 20

Potential energy surfaces (PESs) for use in dynamics calculations of few-atom reactive systems are commonly modeled as functional forms fitting or interpolating a set of ab initio energies computed at many nuclear configurations. An automated procedure is here proposed for optimal configuration-space sampling in generating this set of energies as part of the grid-empowered molecular simulator GEMS (Laganà et al., J. Grid Comput. 2010, 8, 571-586). The scheme is based on a space-reduced formulation of the so-called bond-order variables allowing for a balanced representation of the attractive and repulsive regions of a diatom configuration space. Uniform grids based on space-reduced bond-order variables are proven to outperform those defined on the more conventional bond-length variables in converging the fitted/interpolated PES to the computed ab initio one with increasing number of grid points. Benchmarks are performed on the one- and three-dimensional prototype systems H2 and H3 using both a local-interpolation (modified Shepard) and a global-fitting (Aguado-Paniagua) scheme. PMID:26674105

We experimentally demonstrate a high power nanosecond pulsed terahertz (THz)-wave parametric oscillator (TPO) by using a wide pump beam. A surface emitted cavity configuration is employed to reduce the THz absorption in MgO:LiNbO3 crystal. The THz wave can be tuned from 1 THz to 3 THz. A maximum THz output energy of 438 nJ/pulse is achieved at 1.56 Hz using a 4.5-mm-diameter pump beam with a pulse energy of 226 mJ pump energy with the repetition of 10 Hz, corresponding to the energy conversion efficiency of 1.94 × 10-6.

A solar energy collector system is described characterized by an improved concentrator for directing incident rays of solar energy on parallel strip-like segments of a flatplate receiver. Individually mounted reflector modules of a common asymmetrical triangular cross-sectional configuration supported for independent orientation are asymmetric included with vee-trough concentrators for deflecting incident solar energy toward the receiver.

The networking and implementation of the Oracle Database Management System (ODBMS) requires developers to have knowledge of the UNIX operating system as well as all the features of the Oracle Server. The server is an object relational database management system (DBMS). By using distributed processing, processes are split up between the database server and client application programs. The DBMS handles all the responsibilities of the server. The workstations running the database application concentrate on the interpretation and display of data.

The System Trades Study and Design Methodology Plan is used to conduct trade studies to define the combination of Space Shuttle Main Engine features that will optimize candidate engine configurations. This is accomplished by using vehicle sensitivities and engine parametric data to establish engine chamber pressure and area ratio design points for candidate engine configurations. Engineering analyses are to be conducted to refine and optimize the candidate configurations at their design points. The optimized engine data and characteristics are then evaluated and compared against other candidates being considered. The Evaluation Criteria Plan is then used to compare and rank the optimized engine configurations on the basis of cost.

The recent fighting activities in various parts of the world have highlighted the need for accurate fire source detection on one hand and fast "sensor to shooter cycle" capabilities on the other. Both needs can be met by the SPOTLITE system which dramatically enhances the capability to rapidly engage hostile fire source with a minimum of casualties to friendly force and to innocent bystanders. Modular system design enable to meet each customer specific requirements and enable excellent future growth and upgrade potential. The design and built of a fire source detection system is governed by sets of requirements issued by the operators. This can be translated into the following design criteria: I) Long range, fast and accurate fire source detection capability. II) Different threat detection and classification capability. III) Threat investigation capability. IV) Fire source data distribution capability (Location, direction, video image, voice). V) Men portability. ) In order to meet these design criteria, an optimized concept was presented and exercised for the SPOTLITE system. Three major modular components were defined: I) Electro Optical Unit -Including FLIR camera, CCD camera, Laser Range Finder and Marker II) Electronic Unit -including system computer and electronic. III) Controller Station Unit - Including the HMI of the system. This article discusses the system's components definition and optimization processes, and also show how SPOTLITE designers successfully managed to introduce excellent solutions for other system parameters.

An aircraft sensor fault tolerant system methodology for the Transport Systems Research Vehicle in a Microwave Landing System (MLS) environment is described. The fault tolerant system provides reliable estimates in the presence of possible failures both in ground-based navigation aids, and in on-board flight control and inertial sensors. Sensor failures are identified by utilizing the analytic relationships between the various sensors arising from the aircraft point mass equations of motion. The estimation and failure detection performance of the software implementation (called FINDS) of the developed system was analyzed on a nonlinear digital simulation of the research aircraft. Simulation results showing the detection performance of FINDS, using a dual redundant sensor compliment, are presented for bias, hardover, null, ramp, increased noise and scale factor failures. In general, the results show that FINDS can distinguish between normal operating sensor errors and failures while providing an excellent detection speed for bias failures in the MLS, indicated airspeed, attitude and radar altimeter sensors.

Using the Griffith energy-balance concept to model joint propagation in the brittle crust, two laboratory loading configurations serve as appropriate analogs for in situ conditions: the dead-weight load and the fixed-grips load. The distinction between these loading configurations is based largely on whether or not a loaded boundary moves as a joint grows. During displacement of a loaded boundary, the energy necessary for joint propagation comes from work by the dead weight (i.e., a remote stress). When the loaded boundary remains stationary, as if held by rigid grips, the energy for joint propagation develops upon release of elastic strain energy within the rock mass. These two generic loading configurations serve as models for four common natural loading configurations: a joint-normal load; a thermoelastic load; a fluid load; and an axial load. Each loading configuration triggers a different joint-driving mechanism, each of which is the release of energy through elastic strain and/or work. The four mechanisms for energy release are joint-normal stretching, elastic contraction, poroelastic contraction under either a constant fluid drive or fluid decompression, and axial shortening, respectively. Geological circumstances favoring each of the joint-driving mechanisms are as follows. The release of work under joint-normal stretching occurs whenever layer-parallel extension keeps pace with slow or subcritical joint propagation. Under fixed grips, a substantial crack-normal tensile stress can accumulate by thermoelastic contraction until joint propagation is driven by the release of elastic strain energy. Within the Earth the rate of joint propagation dictates which of these two driving mechanisms operates, with faster propagation driven by release of strain energy. Like a dead-weight load acting to separate the joint walls, pore fluid exerts a traction on the interior of some joints. Joint propagation under fluid loading may be driven by a release of elastic strain

The Earth Observatory Satellite (EOS) data management system (DMS) is discussed. The DMS is composed of several subsystems or system elements which have basic purposes and are connected together so that the DMS can support the EOS program by providing the following: (1) payload data acquisition and recording, (2) data processing and product generation, (3) spacecraft and processing management and control, and (4) data user services. The configuration and purposes of the primary or high-data rate system and the secondary or local user system are explained. Diagrams of the systems are provided to support the systems analysis.

Human motion tracking systems represent a crucial technology in the area of modeling and simulation. These systems, which allow engineers to capture human motion for study or replication in virtual environments, have broad applications in several research disciplines including human engineering, robotics, and psychology. These systems are based on several sensing paradigms, including electro-magnetic, infrared, and visual recognition. Each of these paradigms requires specialized environments and hardware configurations to optimize performance of the human motion tracking system. Ideally, these systems are used in a laboratory or other facility that was designed to accommodate the particular sensing technology. For example, electromagnetic systems are highly vulnerable to interference from metallic objects, and should be used in a specialized lab free of metal components.

In the context of the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program of ESA, it is foreseen to deploy several large robotic telescopes in remote locations to provide surveillance and tracking services for man-made as well as natural near-Earth objects (NEOs). The present project, termed Telescope Test Bed (TBT) is being developed under ESA's General Studies and Technology Programme, and shall implement a test-bed for the validation of an autonomous optical observing system in a realistic scenario, consisting of two telescopes located in Spain and Australia, to collect representative test data for precursor NEO services. In order to fulfill all the security requirements for the TBT project, the use of a autonomous emergency system (AES) is foreseen to monitor the control system. The AES will monitor remotely the health of the observing system and the internal and external environment. It will incorporate both autonomous and interactive actuators to force the protection of the system (i.e., emergency dome close out).

A vision system is disclosed. The system includes a pixel array, at least one multi-resolution window operation circuit, and a pixel averaging circuit. The pixel array has an array of pixels configured to receive light signals from an image having at least one tracking target. The multi-resolution window operation circuits are configured to process the image. Each of the multi-resolution window operation circuits processes each tracking target within a particular multi-resolution window. The pixel averaging circuit is configured to sample and average pixels within the particular multi-resolution window.

We present the results of a theoretical study of a four-level atomic system in vee + ladder configuration using a density matrix analysis. The absorption and dispersion profiles are derived for a weak probe field and for varying strengths of the two strong control fields. For specificity, we choose energy levels of 87Rb, and present results for both stationary atoms and moving atoms in room temperature vapor. An electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) peak with negative dispersion is observed at zero probe detuning when the control fields have equal strengths, which switches to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) with positive dispersion (due to splitting of the EIA peak) when the control fields are unequal. There is significant linewidth narrowing in thermal vapor.

Hartree--Fock wave functions have been used to calculate configuration -averaged photoionization cross sections and ionization energies for orbitals 1s< or =nl< or =5g in He-like through Al-like isoelectroni csequences. The photoionization cross sections have been fitted as a function of the nuclear charge, Z, and photon energy, X, in threshold units, with average error of less than 10%. The ionization energies have been fitted as a function of Z with errors of less than 0.5%

Here we present a novel, end-point method using the dead-end-elimination and A* algorithms to efficiently and accurately calculate the change in free energy, enthalpy, and configurational entropy of binding for ligand–receptor association reactions. We apply the new approach to the binding of a series of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) protease inhibitors to examine the effect ensemble reranking has on relative accuracy as well as to evaluate the role of the absolute and relative ligand configurational entropy losses upon binding in affinity differences for structurally related inhibitors. Our results suggest that most thermodynamic parameters can be estimated using only a small fraction of the full configurational space, and we see significant improvement in relative accuracy when using an ensemble versus single-conformer approach to ligand ranking. We also find that using approximate metrics based on the single-conformation enthalpy differences between the global minimum energyconfiguration in the bound as well as unbound states also correlates well with experiment. Using a novel, additive entropy expansion based on conditional mutual information, we also analyze the source of ligand configurational entropy loss upon binding in terms of both uncoupled per degree of freedom losses as well as changes in coupling between inhibitor degrees of freedom. We estimate entropic free energy losses of approximately +24 kcal/mol, 12 kcal/mol of which stems from loss of translational and rotational entropy. Coupling effects contribute only a small fraction to the overall entropy change (1–2 kcal/mol) but suggest differences in how inhibitor dihedral angles couple to each other in the bound versus unbound states. The importance of accounting for flexibility in drug optimization and design is also discussed. PMID:24250277

A system description of, and user's guide for, the Configuration Analysis Tool (CAT) are presented. As a configuration management tool, CAT enhances the control of large software systems by providing a repository for information describing the current status of a project. CAT provides an editing capability to update the information and a reporting capability to present the information. CAT is an interactive program available in versions for the PDP-11/70 and VAX-11/780 computers.

A multichannel heterodyne fiber optic vibrometer is demonstrated which can be operated at ranges in excess of 50 m. The system is designed to measure periodic signals, impacts, rotation, 3D strain, and vibration mapping. The displacement resolution of each channel exceeds 1 nm. The outputs from all channels are simultaneous, and the number of channels can be increased by using optical switches.

A method and apparatus for an acquisition system includes a plurality of sensor input signal lines. At least one of the plurality of sensor input signal lines operatively connects to at least one of a plurality of amplifier circuits. At least one of the plurality of amplifier circuits operatively connects to at least one of a plurality of filter circuits.

The successes of the Cassini/Huygens mission have heightened interest to return to the Saturn system with focused robotic missions. The desire for a sustained presence at Titan, through a dedicated orbiter and in-situ vehicle, either a lander or aerobot, has resulted in definition of a Titan Explorer flagship mission as a high priority in the Solar System Exploration Roadmap. The discovery of active water vapor plumes erupting from the tiger stripes on the moon Enceladus has drawn the attention of the space science community. The NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion propulsion system is well suited to future missions to the Saturn system. NEXT is used within the inner solar system, in combination with a Venus or Earth gravity assist, to establish a fast transfer to the Saturn system. The NEXT system elements are accommodated in a separable Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) module, or are integrated into the main spacecraft bus, depending on the mission architecture and performance requirements. This paper defines a range of NEXT systemconfigurations, from two to four thrusters, and the Saturn system performance capability provided. Delivered mass is assessed parametrically over total trip time to Saturn. Launch vehicle options, gravity assist options, and input power level are addressed to determine performance sensitivities. A simple two-thruster NEXT system, launched on an Atlas 551, can deliver a spacecraft mass of over 2400 kg on a transfer to Saturn. Similarly, a four-thruster system, launched on a Delta 4050 Heavy, delivers more than 4000 kg spacecraft mass. A SEP module conceptual design, for a two thruster string, 17 kW solar array, configuration is characterized.

This presentation slide document reviews the attempts to integrate systems and create common standards for missions. A primary example is telemetry and command sets for satellites. The XML Telemetric and Command Exchange (XTCE) exists, but this is not easy to implement. There is a need for a new standard. The document proposes a method to achieve the standard, and the benefits of using a new standard,

A comparison was made of some of the more important features of two commercially available area navigation systems and the Terminal Configured Vehicle (TCV) area navigation system. Topics discussed included system design criteria, system elements, calculation of the navigation solution, and presentation of guidance information.

The rovibration partition function of CH4 was calculated in the temperature range of 100-1000 K using well-converged energy levels that were calculated by vibrational-rotational configuration interaction using the Watson Hamiltonian for total angular momenta J = 0-50 and the MULTIMODE computer program. The configuration state functions are products of ground-state occupied and virtual modals obtained using the vibrational self-consistent field method. The Gilbert and Jordan potential energy surface was used for the calculations. The resulting partition function was used to test the harmonic oscillator approximation and the separable-rotation approximation. The harmonic oscillator, rigid-rotator approximation is in error by a factor of 2.3 at 300 K, but we also propose a separable-rotation approximation that is accurate within 2% from 100 to 1000 K. PMID:15260761

The use of the NII (National Information Infrastructure) is growing rapidly in the number of users and in the areas in which it is being applied. Sandia is using, the NII to leverage the use of geographically distributed mechatronic (electromechanical) assets. This paper discusses the availability of networks, new challenges for robotics technology, and how the use of networks is helping to meet these challenges. A brief overview of the NII is provided, followed by a listing of ``needs`` within the intelligent systems community. An approach is then given for meeting, these needs and, finally, implementation, examples, and future research directions are discussed.

More and more surface water are polluted with toxic chemicals. Alternatively brackish and saline water are used as feed water to water treatment plants. Expensive desalination process via reverse osmosis or distillation is used in the plants. Thus, this conventional desalination is not suitable for low and medium income countries. A cheaper method is by solar distillation. However the rate of water production by this method is generally considered low. This research attempts to enhance water production of solar distillation by optimizing solar capture, evaporation and condensation processes. Solar radiation data was captured in several days in Perak, Malaysia. Three kinds of experiments were done by fabricating triangular solar distillation systems. First type was conventional solar still, second type was combined with 50 Watt solar photovoltaic panel and 40 Watt Dc heater, while third type was integrated with 12 Volt Solar battery and 40 Watt Dc heater. The present investigation showed that the productivity of second and third systems were 150% and 480% of the conventional still type, respectively. The finding of this research can be expected to have wide application in water supply particularly in areas where fresh surface water is limited.

An experimental rule-based system for optimizing user spacecraft communications configurations was developed at NASA to support mission planning for spacecraft that obtain telecommunications services through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Designated Expert for Communications Configuration Optimization (ECCO), and implemented in the OPS5 production system language, the system has shown the validity of a rule-based systems approach to this optimization problem. The development of ECCO and the incremental optimizatin method on which it is based are discussed. A test case using hypothetical mission data is included to demonstrate the optimization concept.

An experimental rule-based system for optimizing user spacecraft communications configurations was developed at NASA to support mission planning for spacecraft that obtain telecommunications services through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Designated Expert for Communications Configuration Optimization (ECCO), and implemented in the OPS5 production system language, the system has shown the validity of a rule-based systems approach to this optimization problem. The development of ECCO and the incremental optimization method on which it is based are discussed. A test case using hypothetical mission data is included to demonstrate the optimization concept.

An experimental rule-based system for optimizing user spacecraft communications configurations was developed at NASA to support mission planning for spacecraft that obtain telecommunications services through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Designated Expert for Communications Configuration Optimization (ECCO), and implemented in the OPS5 production system language, the system has shown the validity of a rule-based systems approach to this optimization problem. The development of ECCO and the incremental optimizatin method on which it is based are discussed. A test case using hypothetical mission data is included to demonstrate the optimization concept.

We study the performance of large (O (100)) wave energy converter (WEC) arrays that are used for ocean energy harvesting. We developed a fast computational algorithm based on the multiple scattering framework that is capable of handling large arrays of different configurations (general finite-size arrays, periodic arrays, periodic arrays of subarrays); for axisymmetric bodies the algorithm imposes no constraints on the body-size-to-wavelength ratio or on the inter-body spacings. Using this fast algorithm, we optimize the spatial configurations of arrays of different types and with increasing number of bodies (up to 400), with the goal of maximizing energy extraction. The results show that employing non-uniform spacings between the bodies in ordered and non-ordered arrays can increase the array gain several times. This holds for body resonant and near-resonant frequencies, as well as for the full spectrum cases. The optimal configurations are analyzed from a physical standpoint and compared to other structured arrays in physics. These results give a guideline on the possible future design of WEC arrays.

Multivariate energy harvesting system, solar and thermal energies, with configurable impedance matching features is presented. The system consists of a tuneable mechanism for peak performance tracking. The inputs are voltages ranging from 20 mV to 3.1 V. The matching load is individually tuned for photovoltaic and thermoelectric power efficiency not less than 80% and 50% of the open circuit voltage respectively. Of experimentation and analysis has been done, the time it takes to fully charge up to 3.4 V is 23 minutes with the rate of charging is 1.8 mV/sec. Empirical data is presented. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

This document describes the configuration process, choices and conventions used during the configuration activities, and issues involved in making changes to the configuration. Includes the master listings of the Tag definitions, which should be revised to authorize any changes. Revision 2 incorporates minor changes to ensure the document setpoints accurately reflect limits (including exhaust stack flow of 800 scfm) established in OSD-T-151-00019. The MICON DCS software controls and monitors the instrumentation and equipment associated with plant systems and processes.

Several aspects concerning reaction control jet systems as used to govern the attitude of a spacecraft were considered. A thruster configuration currently in use was compared to several new configurations developed in this study. The method of determining the error signals which control the firing of the thrusters was also investigated. The current error determination procedure is explained and a new method is presented. Both of these procedures are applied to each of the thruster configurations which are developed and comparisons of the two methods are made.

A selected multireference configuration interaction (CI) method and the corresponding code are presented. It is based on a procedure of localization that permits to obtain well localized occupied and virtual orbitals. Due to the local character of the electron correlation, using local orbitals allows one to neglect long range interactions. In a first step, three topological matrices are constructed, which determine whether two orbitals must be considered as interacting or not. Two of them concern the truncation of the determinant basis, one for occupied/virtual, the second one for dispersive interactions. The third one concerns the truncation of the list of two electron integrals. This approach permits a fine analysis of each kind of approximation and induces a huge reduction of the CI size and of the computational time. The procedure is tested on linear polyene aldehyde chains, dissociation potential energy curve, and reaction energy of a pesticide-Ca2+ complex and finally on transition energies of a large iron system presenting a light-induced excited spin-state trapping effect.

This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) provides the instructions for change control of the AZ1101 Mixer Pump Demonstration Data Acquisition System (DAS) and the Sludge Mobilization Cart (Gamma Cart) Data Acquisition and Control System (DACS).

PRESTO, a COSMIC program, handles energysystem specifications and predicts design efficiency of cogeneration systems. These systems allow a company to use excess energy produced to generate electricity. PRESTO is utilized by the EnergySystems Division of Thermo Electron Corporation in the custom design of cogeneration systems.

Railway signalling system is a safety-critical system to ensure railway safety and its development cost is huge. It is of great economic value to apply the generic signalling systems in different environments through configuration of different application data. In this paper, a new method to configure the application data completely and accurately is illustrated; in particular, a technique called automatic generation technology is introduced to automatically configure the functional logic of safety-critical systems, i.e. computer-based interlocking (CBI) system and automatic train protection (ATP) system. All of the application data are collected from the workflow among various departments through the enterprise system (ES). Some application data are represented by models employing automatic generation technology, and the functional logic is then obtained through analysis using these models. A configuration platform based on the ES is developed in which both the efficiency and accuracy of the application data configuration are significantly improved. In addition, it is capable of reducing human errors to a maximal extent.

The Tertiary limestone aquifer system of the southeastern United States is a thick sequence of carbonate rocks that vary in age and that are hydraulically connected in varying degrees. A map is presented that shows the altitude and configuration of the top of the aquifer system, as well as the extent of the youngest rock that is judged to be part of the system. Several types of geologic structures that affect the configuration of the top of the system may be readily recognized. (USGS)

The Tertiary limestone aquifer system of the southeastern United States is a thick sequence of carbonate rocks that vary in age land that are hydraulically connected in varying degrees. A map is presented that shows at the altitude and configuration of base of the aquifer system. The age and lithology of the different low-permeability materials that mark the base of the system are delineated and briefly described. Several types of geologic structures that affect the configuration of the base of the system may be readily recognized. (USGS)

In this paper, force-sensorless bilateral control methods for a master-slave system with different configurations are proposed. Two types of bilateral control architectures are presented. One is based on joint space control, and the other is based on work space control. This paper discusses the difference between these control methods from the viewpoint of motion behavior in the singular configuration. Finally, actual experimental results that confirm the validity of the proposed methods are shown.

Optical systemconfigurations with a real exit pupil have important applications. However, there are few effective design methods of these systems for choice, especially for the systems using freeform surfaces. In this paper, we propose a novel starting configuration design method of freeform optical systems with a real exit pupil before the image plane. This method works for both the cases of imaging systems with optical power and afocal systems. Each single freeform surface in the starting configuration is generated directly using the light rays of multiple fields and different pupil coordinates. With a proposed multi-step design strategy, not only the given system specifications and the desired object-image relationships (or magnification for the afocal system) are achieved, the generation of a real, small-distorted exit pupil with a given size and shape (which means the imaging relationships of the pupils) can be also considered. The system generated by this method can be taken as a good starting configuration for further optimization. The benefits and feasibility of this design method are demonstrated by two design examples. One example is a freeform off-axis three-mirror imaging system. The other example is a freeform off-axis three-mirror afocal telescope. Both of the systems have a modulation transfer function (MTF) that is closed to the diffraction limit. PMID:26835771

This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) provides the instructions for change control of the W-211 Project, Retrieval Control System (RCS) software after initial approval/release but prior to the transfer of custody to the waste tank operations contractor. This plan applies to the W-211 system software developed by the project, consisting of the computer human-machine interface (HMI) and programmable logic controller (PLC) software source and executable code, for production use by the waste tank operations contractor. The plan encompasses that portion of the W-211 RCS software represented on project-specific AUTOCAD drawings that are released as part of the C1 definitive design package (these drawings are identified on the drawing list associated with each C-1 package), and the associated software code. Implementation of the plan is required for formal acceptance testing and production release. The software configuration management plan does not apply to reports and data generated by the software except where specifically identified. Control of information produced by the software once it has been transferred for operation is the responsibility of the receiving organization.

The installation of proper control systems is estimated as saving up to 25 percent of the energy used in schools. Other potential energy-saving areas are transmission (heat loss or gain through walls, especially ceilings); internal load (heat from students, lights, and machinery); ventilation; and equipment maintenance. (Author/MLF)

A surface-emitted ring-cavity terahertz (THz) wave parametric oscillator has been demonstrated for high-energy THz output and fast frequency tuning in a wide frequency range. Through the special optical design with a galvano-optical scanner and four-mirror ring-cavity structure, the maximum THz wave output energy of 12.9 μJ/pulse is achieved at 1.359 THz under the pump energy of 172.8 mJ. The fast THz frequency tuning in the range of 0.7-2.8 THz can be accessed with the step response of 600 μs. Moreover, the maximum THz wave output energy from this configuration is 3.29 times as large as that obtained from the conventional surface-emitted THz wave parametric oscillator with the same experimental conditions. PMID:27176978

Purpose: In this study, the authors introduce skew line needle configurations for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy and needle planning by integer program (NPIP), a computational method for generating these configurations. NPIP generates needle configurations that are specific to the anatomy of the patient, avoid critical structures near the penile bulb and other healthy structures, and avoid needle collisions inside the body. Methods: NPIP consisted of three major components: a method for generating a set of candidate needles, a needle selection component that chose a candidate needle subset to be inserted, and a dose planner for verifying that the final needle configuration could meet dose objectives. NPIP was used to compute needle configurations for prostate cancer data sets from patients previously treated at our clinic. NPIP took two user-parameters: a number of candidate needles, and needle coverage radius, {delta}. The candidate needle set consisted of 5000 needles, and a range of {delta} values was used to compute different needle configurations for each patient. Dose plans were computed for each needle configuration. The number of needles generated and dosimetry were analyzed and compared to the physician implant. Results: NPIP computed at least one needle configuration for every patient that met dose objectives, avoided healthy structures and needle collisions, and used as many or fewer needles than standard practice. These needle configurations corresponded to a narrow range of {delta} values, which could be used as default values if this system is used in practice. The average end-to-end runtime for this implementation of NPIP was 286 s, but there was a wide variation from case to case. Conclusions: The authors have shown that NPIP can automatically generate skew line needle configurations with the aforementioned properties, and that given the correct input parameters, NPIP can generate needle configurations which meet dose objectives and use as many

A windpowered system using the superflywheel configuration for energy storage is considered. Basic elements of superflywheels are thin rods assembled in pregrooved hub lamina so that they fan out in radial orientation. Adjacent layers of hub lamina are assembled 90 degree in rotation to each other so as to form a circular brush configuration. Thus stress concentrations and rod failure are minimized and realistic failure containment for a high performance flywheel is obtained.

As the scientific field of the freeform optics is newly developing, there is only a small number of approved starting systems for the imaging lens design. We investigate the possibility to generate starting configurations of freeform lenses with the Simultaneous Multiple Surface (SMS) method. Surface fit and transfer to the ray tracing program are discussed in detail. Based on specific examples without rotational symmetry, we analyze the potential of such starting systems. The tested systems evolve from Scheimpflug configurations or have arbitrarily tilted image planes. The optimization behavior of the starting systems retrieved from the 3D-SMS is compared to classical starting configurations, like an aspheric lens. Therefore we evaluate the root mean square (RMS) spot radius before and after the optimization as well as the speed of convergence. In result the performance of the starting configurations is superior. The mean RMS spot diameter is reduced about up to 17.6 % in comparison to an aspheric starting configuration and about up to 28 % for a simple plane plate.

This document is a report on the final box and software configuration of the Johnson Noise Thermometry System being developed at ORNL. Much of this has been reported previously so that this report will be a systems-level summary of those reports, In addition we will describe some of the issues encountered during development.

In order to eliminate the limitation of the Space Tether-Net System in the field of maneuver and control, we propose the Maneuvering-Net Space Robot System (MNSRS) in this paper, which can capture and remove the space debris dexterously. We focus on the approaching phase towards the space debris, which is a challenging problem for the MNSRS, especially the coupled dynamics modeling and configuration control problems. Firstly the system and mission overview of the MNSRS is described in detail. After that, a coupled dynamics modeling, which divides the MNSRS into finite mass points connected with massless springs, is established to describe dynamic characteristics of the MNSRS in approaching phase. Then the configuration variation of the MNSRS in approaching phase is analyzed. Finally the configuration control of the MNSRS in approaching phase is investigated.

The paper describes a new approach to presenting of the information about the control system states and processing of this information for the control decision-making. The ranks between distances of system states but not these distances are important information for implementation of procedures to identifying states and optimization of the system in this approach. The concept of rank configurations and special binary codes for their encoding are introduced. Different models of ranked configurations for defining the characteristics of these codes are presented. The interval model of ranked configurations to determine the completeness of such codes and a method and algorithm for evaluation of its adequacy are designed. The results of the algorithm performance are presented.

The design and characteristics of a flight director for V/STOL aircraft are discussed. A configuration management system for piloted STOL approaches is described. The individual components of the overall system designed to reduce pilot workload to an acceptable level during curved, decelerating, and descending STOL approaches are defined. The application of the system to augmentor wing aircraft is analyzed. System performance checks and piloted evaluations were conducted on a flight simulator and the results are summarized.

A multireceiver configuration for the purpose of carrier arraying and/or signal arraying is presented. Such a problem arises for example, in the NASA Deep Space Network where the same data-modulated signal from a spacecraft is received by a number of geographically separated antennas and the data detection must be efficiently performed on the basis of the various received signals. The proposed configuration is arrived at by formulating the carrier and/or signal arraying problem as an optimal estimation problem. Two specific solutions are proposed. The first solution is to simultaneously and optimally estimate the various phase processes received at different receivers with coupled phase locked loops (PLLs) wherein the individual PLLs acquire and track their respective receivers' phase processes, but are aided by each other in an optimal manner. However, when the phase processes are relatively weakly correlated, and for the case of relatively high values of symbol energy-to-noise spectral density ratio, a novel configuration for combining the data modulated, loop-output signals is proposed. The scheme can be extended to the case of low symbol energy-to-noise case by performing the combining/detection process over a multisymbol period. Such a configuration results in the minimization of the effective radio loss at the combiner output, and thus a maximization of energy per bit to noise-power spectral density ration is achieved.

Nozzle exit configurations and associated systems and methods are disclosed. An aircraft system in accordance with one embodiment includes a jet engine exhaust nozzle having an internal flow surface and an exit aperture, with the exit aperture having a perimeter that includes multiple projections extending in an aft direction. Aft portions of individual neighboring projections are spaced apart from each other by a gap, and a geometric feature of the multiple can change in a monotonic manner along at least a portion of the perimeter. Projections near a support pylon and/or associated heat shield can have particular configurations, including greater flow immersion than other projections.

INL recently broke ground for a research facility that will house research programs for bioenergy, advanced battery systems, and new hybrid energysystems that integrate renewable, fossil and nuclear energy sources. Here's video from the groundbreaking ceremony for INL's new EnergySystems Laboratory. You can learn more about CAES research at http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

INL recently broke ground for a research facility that will house research programs for bioenergy, advanced battery systems, and new hybrid energysystems that integrate renewable, fossil and nuclear energy sources. Here's video from the groundbreaking ceremony for INL's new EnergySystems Laboratory. You can learn more about CAES research at http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

A trade study was conducted with the objective of providing a technical guideline for selection of the most appropriate computer technology for the automatic flight control system of a civil subsonic jet transport. The trade study considers aspects of using either an analog, incremental type special purpose computer or a general purpose computer to perform critical autopilot computation functions. It also considers aspects of integration of noncritical autopilot and autothrottle modes into the computer performing the critical autoland functions, as compared to the federation of the noncritical modes into either a separate computer or with a R-Nav computer. The study is accomplished by establishing the relative advantages and/or risks associated with each of the computer configurations.

Space multi-tethered systems have shown broad prospects in remote observation missions. This paper mainly focuses on the dynamics and configuration maintaining control of space spinning three-body ring tethered system for such mission. Firstly, we establish the spinning dynamic model of the three-body ring tethered system considering the elasticity of the tether using Newton-Euler method, and then validate the suitability of this model by numerical simulation. Subsequently, LP (Likins-Pringle) initial equilibrium conditions for the tethered system are derived based on rigid body's equilibrium theory. Simulation results show that tether slack, snapping and interaction between the tethers exist in the three-body ring system, and its' configuration can not be maintained without control. Finally, a control strategy based on thrust compensation, namely thrust to simulate tether compression under LP initial equilibrium conditions is designed to solve the configuration maintaining control problem. Control effects are verified by numerical simulation compared with uncontrolled situation. Simulation results show that the configuration of the three-body ring tethered system could maintain under this active control strategy.

A framework was developed for preliminary evaluation of the relative media replacement costs of three alternative column configurations used for adsorption systems with two vessels, such as those serving small systems. The media replacement cost is the cost of fresh media and the replacement service cost (including transportation, labor, and other non-material costs). Cost normalization methods were developed in part based on the data from US EPA Arsenic Treatment Technology Demonstration Program. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics were modeled using the PSDM model and breakthrough curves were normalized using the target effluent to influent concentration ratio (C/Co) and the mass transfer zone fraction (%MTZBT). Two factors were found to be important for the relative replacement cost of each configuration - the frequency which at least one column needed replacement of media, and the cycle replacement cost (CRCost) which is a combination of the fresh media cost and the replacement service cost. The lead-lag configuration has the lowest annual replacement cost at low target C/Co, high %MTZBT, and high CRCost ratios. The parallel configuration performs better at high target C/Co, high %MTZBT, and high CRCost ratios. Although the single configuration (two columns operated in tandem and replaced simultaneously) has higher media consumption compared to lead-lag and parallel, it can result in the lowest replacement cost at short %MTZBT and very low CRCost ratios due to savings in the replacement service cost. PMID:26894474

The design and performance of a fuel cell based residential combined heat and power (CHP) system operating on natural gas has been analyzed. The natural gas is first converted to a hydrogen-rich reformate in a steam reformer based fuel processor, and the hydrogen is then electrochemically oxidized in a low temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell to generate electric power. The heat generated in the fuel cell and the available heat in the exhaust gas is recovered to meet residential needs for hot water and space heating. Two fuel processor configurations have been studied. One of the configurations was explored to quantify the effects of design and operating parameters, which include pressure, temperature, and steam-to-carbon ratio in the fuel processor, and fuel utilization in the fuel cell. The second configuration applied the lessons from the study of the first configuration to increase the CHP efficiency. Results from the two configurations allow a quantitative comparison of the design alternatives. The analyses showed that these systems can operate at electrical efficiencies of ∼46% and combined heat and power efficiencies of ∼90%.

The effect of the radial density configuration in terms of width, edge gradient and volume gradient on the wave field and energy flow in an axially uniform helicon plasma is studied in detail. A three-parameter function is employed to describe the density, covering uniform, parabolic, linear and Gaussian profiles. It finds that the fraction of power deposition near the plasma edge increases with density width and edge gradient, and decays in exponential and “bump-on-tail” profiles, respectively, away from the surface. The existence of a positive second-order derivative in the volume density configuration promotes the power deposition near the plasma core, which to our best knowledge has not been pointed out before. The transverse structures of wave field and current density remain almost the same during the variation of density width and gradient, confirming the robustness of the m=1 mode observed previously. However, the structure of the electric wave field changes significantly from a uniform density configuration, for which the coupling between the Trivelpiece-Gould (TG) mode and the helicon mode is very strong, to non-uniform ones. The energy flow in the cross section of helicon plasma is presented for the first time, and behaves sensitive to the density width and edge gradient but insensitive to the volume gradient. Interestingly, the radial distribution of power deposition resembles the radial profile of the axial component of current density, suggesting the control of the power deposition profile in the experiment by particularly designing the antenna geometry to excite a required axial current distribution. supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11405271)

An improved solar energy collection system, having enhanced energy collection and conversion capabilities, is delineated. The system is characterized by a plurality of receivers suspended above a heliostat field comprising a multiplicity of reflector surfaces, each being adapted to direct a concentrated beam of solar energy to illuminate a target surface for a given receiver. A magnitude of efficiency, suitable for effectively competing with systems employed in collecting and converting energy extracted from fossil fuels, is indicated.

The Department of Energy Office of Electricity (DOE/OE), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and the Base Camp Integration Lab (BCIL) partnered together to incorporate an energy storage system into a microgrid configured Forward Operating Base to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and to ultimately save lives. Energy storage vendors will be sending their systems to SNL Energy Storage Test Pad (ESTP) for functional testing and then to the BCIL for performance evaluation. The technologies that will be tested are electro-chemical energy storage systems comprised of lead acid, lithium-ion or zinc-bromide. Princeton Power Systems has developed an energy storage system that utilizes lithium ion phosphate batteries to save fuel on a military microgrid. This report contains the testing results and some limited analysis of performance of the Princeton Power Systems Prototype Energy Storage System.

The paper discusses the main constraints and boundary conditions and describes the baseline configuration of the International Linear Collider (ILC) cryogenic system. The cryogenic layout, architecture and the cooling principle are presented. The paper addresses a plan for study and development required to demonstrate and improve the performance, to reduce cost and to attain the desired reliability.

...The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is issuing for public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1206, ``Configuration Management Plan for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants.'' The DG-1206 is proposed Revision 1 of RG 1.169, dated September 1997. This revision endorses, with clarifications, the enhanced consensus practices for......

Six single LOX feedline designs were evaluated for use on the National Launch Vehicle. A single feedline design, designated the 'Spider', was chosen and compared to the baseline system. The baseline configuration employs two 20-inch I.D. lines, each supplying LOX to three 650,000 lbf thrust Space Transportation Main Engines. Five single feedline diameters were examined for the spider configuration; 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30-inch I.D. System dry weights and LOX residuals were estimated. These parameters, along with calculated staged mass for the different single line and baseline configurations, were used to calculate the payload mass to orbit. For the cases where LOX is drained to minimum NPSP conditions, none of the single lines performed as well as the dual line system, although the 22-inch diameter single line compared well. However, for the cases where LOX is drained to operating levels (LOX level at the booster and spider manifolds for the dual and single line configurations, respectively), the 22 - 26-inch I.D. single line systems show a greater payload capability.

Canberra's Standard Gamma Box Counter System is designed to perform accurate quantitative assays of gamma emitting nuclides for a wide range of large containers including B-25 crates and ISO shipping containers. Using a modular building-block approach, the system offers tremendous flexibility for a variety of measurement situations with wide ranges of sample activities and throughput requirements, as well as the opportunity to modify the configuration for other applications at a later date. The typical configuration consists of two opposing towers each equipped with two high purity germanium detectors, and an automated container trolley. This paper presents a modified configuration, consisting of a single tower placed inside a measurement trailer with three detector assemblies, allowing for additional vertical segmentation as well as a viewing a container outside the trailer through the trailer wall. An automatic liquid nitrogen fill system is supplied for each of the detectors. The use of a forklift to move the container for horizontal segmentation is accommodated by creating an additional operational and calibration set-up in the NDA 2000 software to allow for the operator to rotate the container and assay the opposite side, achieving the same sensitivity as a comparable two-tower system. This Segmented Gamma Box Counter System retains the core technologies and design features of the standard configuration. The detector assemblies are shielded to minimize interference from environmental and plant background, and are collimated to provide segmentation of the container. The assembly positions can also be modified in height and distance from the container. The ISOCS calibration software provides for a flexible approach to providing the calibrations for a variety of measurement geometries. The NDA 2000 software provides seamless operation with the current configuration, handling the data acquisition and analysis. In this paper, an overview of this system is discussed

A modular, multi-reactor power system and vehicle configuration for piloted nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) missions to Mars is presented. Such a design could provide enhanced system and mission reliability, allowing a comfortable safety margin for early manned flights, and would allow a range of piloted and cargo missions to be performed with a single power system design. Early use of common power modules for cargo missions would also provide progressive flight experience and validation of standardized systems for use in later piloted applications. System and mission analysis are presented to compare single and multi-reactor configurations for piloted Mars missions. A conceptual design for the Hydra modular multi-reactor NEP vehicle is presented.

A modular, multi-reactor power system and vehicle configuration for piloted nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) missions to Mars is presented. Such a design could provide enhanced system and mission reliability, allowing a comfortable safety margin for early manned flights, and would allow a range of piloted and cargo missions to be performed with a single power system design. Early use of common power modules for cargo missions would also provide progressive flight experience and validation of standardized systems for use in later piloted applications. System and mission analysis are presented to compare single and multi-reactor configurations for piloted Mars missions. A conceptual design for the Hydra modular multi-reactor NEP vehicle is presented.

The availability of efficient, economical, and reliable energy supplies can help attract industry and commercial businesses to a municipality or a region. Efficient use of energy can also improve the air quality and reduce pollution. Therefore, municipalities should explore and encourage the development and implementation of efficient energysystems. Integrated hybrid energysystems can be designed to meet the total energy requirements of large and small communities. These systems can yield significant energy and cost savings when compared with independent systems serving individual units or when compared with the conventional practice of buying power from a utility and producing thermal energy on-site. To maximize energy and cost savings, the design engineer should look beyond the conventional when designing such systems.

An important problem in the development of data reduction systems for astronomical instrumentation is to keep track of changes in the hardware configuration: change of filters, optical elements, detector arrays, control software, etc... Data reduction pipelines need to access different calibration tables for data acquired before and after such hardware changes. In the case of space instrumentation, different qualification models are manufactured and tested on ground. Access to information on the hardware configuration changes for the different models is an additional requirement on robust data reduction pipelines for these projects.

The LHC Low Level RF system (LLRF) is a complex multi-loop system used to regulate the superconductive cavity gap voltage as well as to reduce the impedance presented by RF stations to the beam. The RF system can have a profound impact on the stability of the beam; a mis-configured RF system has the potential of causing longitudinal instabilities, beam diffusion and beam loss. To configure the RF station for operation, a set of parameters in the LLRF multi-loop system have to be defined. Initial system commissioning as well as ongoing operation requires a consistent method of computer based remote measurement and model-based design of each RF station feedback system. This paper describes the suite of Matlab tools used for configuring the LHC RF system during the start up in Nov2009-Feb2010. We present a brief overview of the tool, examples of commissioning results, and basics of the model-based design algorithms. This work complements our previous presentation, where the algorithms and methodology followed in the tools were described.

This document provides the results of the Tank Waste Remediation System Final Safety Analysis Report (TWRS FSAR) hazards identification/facility configuration activities undertaken from the period of March 7, 1996 to May 31, 1996. The purpose of this activity was to provide an independent overview of the TWRS facility specific hazards and configurations that were used in support of the TWRS FSAR hazards and accident analysis development. It was based on a review of existing published documentation and field inspections. The objective of the verification effort was to provide a `snap shot` in time of the existing TWRS facility hazards and configurations and will be used to support hazards and accident analysis activities.

DANESS is an integrated process model for nuclear energysystems allowing the simulation of multiple reactors and fuel cycles in a continuously changing nuclear reactor park configuration. The model is energy demand driven and simulates all nuclear fuel cycle facilites, up to 10 reactors and fuels. Reactor and fuel cycle facility history are traced and the cost of generating energy is calculated per reactor and for total nuclear energysystem. The DANESS model aims atmore » performing dynamic systems analysis of nuclear energy development used for integrated analysis of development paths for nuclear energy, parameter scoping for new nuclear energysystems, economic analysis of nuclear energy, government role analysis, and education.« less

Photovoltaic power converter system including a controller configured to reduce load harmonics is provided. The system comprises a photovoltaic array and an inverter electrically coupled to the array to generate an output current for energizing a load connected to the inverter and to a mains grid supply voltage. The system further comprises a controller including a first circuit coupled to receive a load current to measure a harmonic current in the load current. The controller includes a second circuit to generate a fundamental reference drawn by the load. The controller further includes a third circuit for combining the measured harmonic current and the fundamental reference to generate a command output signal for generating the output current for energizing the load connected to the inverter. The photovoltaic system may be configured to compensate harmonic currents that may be drawn by the load.

A system analysis method for the development of an integrated configuration management/flight director system for IFR STOL approaches is presented. Curved descending decelerating approach trajectories are considered. Considerable emphasis is placed on satisfying the pilot centered requirements (acceptable workload) as well as the usual guidance and control requirements (acceptable performance). The Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft was utilized to allow illustration by example, and to validate the analysis procedure via manned simulation.

Fault diagnosis of various systems on rolling stock has drawn the attention of many researchers. However, obtaining an optimized sensor set of these systems, which is a prerequisite for fault diagnosis, remains a major challenge. Available literature suggests that the configuration of sensors in these systems is presently dependent on the knowledge and engineering experiences of designers, which may lead to insufficient or redundant development of various sensors. In this paper, the optimization of sensor sets is addressed by using the signed digraph (SDG) method. The method is modified for use in braking systems by the introduction of an effect-function method to replace the traditional quantitative methods. Two criteria are adopted to evaluate the capability of the sensor sets, namely, observability and resolution. The sensors configuration method of braking system is proposed. It consists of generating bipartite graphs from SDG models and then solving the set cover problem using a greedy algorithm. To demonstrate the improvement, the sensor configuration of the HP2008 braking system is investigated and fault diagnosis on a test bench is performed. The test results show that SDG algorithm can improve single-fault resolution from 6 faults to 10 faults, and with additional four brake cylinder pressure (BCP) sensors it can cover up to 67 double faults which were not considered by traditional fault diagnosis system. SDG methods are suitable for reducing redundant sensors and that the sensor sets thereby obtained are capable of detecting typical faults, such as the failure of a release valve. This study investigates the formal extension of the SDG method to the sensor configuration of braking system, as well as the adaptation supported by the effect-function method.

Analysis of conventional and novel wastewater treatment configurations reveals large differences in energy consumed or produced and solids generated per cubic meter of domestic wastewater treated. Complete aerobic BOD removal consumes 0.45 kWh and produces 153 g of solids, whereas complete anaerobic treatment produces 0.25 kWh and 80 g of solids. Emerging technologies, that include short-circuit nitrogen removal (SHARON, CANON with Anammox, CANDO) and mainstream anaerobic digestion, can potentially remove both BOD and nitrogen with an energy surplus of 0.17 kWh and production of 95 g of solids. Heat from biogas combustion can completely dry the solids, and these solids can be converted to syngas without imported energy. Syngas combustion can produce ∼ 0.1 kWh with an inorganic residue of just 10 g. If salt is removed, freshwater can be recovered with net production of electrical energy from methane (0.03-0.13 kWh) and syngas (∼ 0.1 kWh) and an inorganic residue of ∼ 0.1-0.3 kg as brine. Current seawater desalination requires 3-4 kWh (thermodynamic limit of 1 kWh) and results in an inorganic residue of ∼ 35 kg as brine. PMID:24963949

Cubic layered heterostructures are indispensable features of many electronic devices; however, the lattice mismatch tends to induce defects, e.g. dislocations. Glissile 60° misfit dislocations (MDs) generally form in the early stage of strain relaxation. During annealing, each relaxing 60° dislocation compensated-pair (60DCP) (with canceling screw and interface-perpendicular edge components) may coalesce into a 90° (pure edge) dislocation, which is a possible mechanism for the reduction of threading dislocations (TDs) through annealing. In this paper, we calculate the formation energies of periodic one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) arrays on the basis of linear elasticity. Each 1D 60DCP array always has lower energy than its homogeneous counterpart. The situation of each 2D array (containing two mutually orthogonal 1D arrays) depends on the period difference δ between the two individual 1D arrays and the film thickness. If δ=0, each 2D 60DCP array has higher energy than its homogeneous counterpart, whereas the 2D 60DCP array is energetically more favorable for a larger δ and/or a thicker film. The analysis suggests a semiconductor-processing strategy to obtain 90° dislocation-dominant arrays and to reduce TDs. Furthermore, based on the criterion of zero energy change by inserting the last dislocation to complete an array, we calculate the equilibrium array period for various configurations, implying possible strain over-relaxation (>100%-relaxed condition) for a sufficiently thick film.

In order to analyze the energy-level distribution in complex ions such as those found in warm dense plasmas, this paper provides values for high-order moments of the spin-orbit energy in a multielectron configuration. Using second-quantization results and standard angular algebra or fully analytical expressions, explicit values are given for moments up to 10th order for the spin-orbit energy. Two analytical methods are proposed, using the uncoupled or coupled orbital and spin angular momenta. The case of multiple open subshells is considered with the help of cumulants. The proposed expressions for spin-orbit energy moments are compared to numerical computations from Cowan's code and agree with them. The convergence of the Gram-Charlier expansion involving these spin-orbit moments is analyzed. While a spectrum with infinitely thin components cannot be adequately represented by such an expansion, a suitable convolution procedure ensures the convergence of the Gram-Charlier series provided high-order terms are accounted for. A corrected analytical formula for the third-order moment involving both spin-orbit and electron-electron interactions turns out to be in fair agreement with Cowan's numerical computations. PMID:27575229

In order to analyze the energy-level distribution in complex ions such as those found in warm dense plasmas, this paper provides values for high-order moments of the spin-orbit energy in a multielectron configuration. Using second-quantization results and standard angular algebra or fully analytical expressions, explicit values are given for moments up to 10th order for the spin-orbit energy. Two analytical methods are proposed, using the uncoupled or coupled orbital and spin angular momenta. The case of multiple open subshells is considered with the help of cumulants. The proposed expressions for spin-orbit energy moments are compared to numerical computations from Cowan's code and agree with them. The convergence of the Gram-Charlier expansion involving these spin-orbit moments is analyzed. While a spectrum with infinitely thin components cannot be adequately represented by such an expansion, a suitable convolution procedure ensures the convergence of the Gram-Charlier series provided high-order terms are accounted for. A corrected analytical formula for the third-order moment involving both spin-orbit and electron-electron interactions turns out to be in fair agreement with Cowan's numerical computations.

A global energysystem is conceptualized and analyzed, the energy distributor sub-system of the worldwide supranational system. Its many interconnections are examined and traced back to their source to determine the major elements of this global energysystem. Long-term trends are emphasized. The analysis begins with a discussion of the local systems that resulted from the deployment of technology in the mid-nineteenth century, continues with a description of the global system based on oil that has existed for the past two decades, and ends with a scenario implying that an energy transition will occur in the future in which use of coal, nuclear, and solar energy will predominate. A major problem for the future will be the management of this energy transition. The optimal use of global resources and the efficient management of this transition will require a stable and persistent global order. PMID:464990

Cogeneration system is one in which the energy ordinarily wasted in an industrial process is recovered and reused to create a second form of energy. Such an energy recovery system is in use at Crane Company's plant in Ferguson, KY, which manufactures ceramic bathroom fixtures. Crane's system captures hot stack gases from the company's four ceramic kilns and uses them to produce electrical power for plant operations.

Algorithms for counting the occurrences of special events in the framework of partially-observed discrete event dynamical systems (DEDS) were developed in previous work. Their performances typically become better as the sensors providing the observations become more costly or increase in number. This paper addresses the problem of finding a sensor configuration that achieves an optimal balance between cost and the performance of the special event counting algorithm, while satisfying given observability requirements and constraints. Since this problem is generally computational hard in the framework considered, a sensor optimization algorithm is developed using two greedy heuristics, one myopic and the other based on projected performances of candidate sensors. The two heuristics are sequentially executed in order to find best sensor configurations. The developed algorithm is then applied to a sensor optimization problem for a multiunit- operation system. Results show that improved sensor configurations can be found that may significantly reduce the sensor configuration cost but still yield acceptable performance for counting the occurrences of special events.

Investigation of a plant shoot configuration is used to obtain valuable information concerning the received light system. Additionally, analysis results concerning a plant shoot configuration interaction with direct solar radiation were taken from a past study. However, in order to consider a plant shoot as a received sunlight system, it is necessary to understand the received light characteristics of both direct solar radiation and diffused solar radiation. Under a clear sky, the ratio of direct solar radiation to diffused solar radiation is large. However, under a clouded sky, the amount of diffused solar radiation becomes larger. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the received light characteristics of a plant shoot configuration under the influence of diffused solar radiation. As a result, we clarify the relationship between the amount of diffused solar radiation and the amount of received light as a function of the characteristics of the plant shoot configuration. In order to obtain diffused solar radiation, it is necessary to correspond to the radiation of the multi-directions. In the analysis, the characteristic of the difference in arrangement of the top leaf and the other leaf was obtained. Therefore, in analysis, leaves other than the top were distributed in the wide range.

The suitable hybrid configuration of Darrieus lift-type and Savonius drag-type rotors for stand-alone wind turbine-generator systems is discussed using our dynamic simulation model. Two types of hybrid configurations are taken up: Type-A installs the Savonius rotor inside the Darrieus rotor and Type-B installs the Savonius rotor outside the Darrieus rotor. The computed results of the output characteristics and the dynamic behaviors of the system operated at the maximum power coefficient points show that Type-A, which has fine operating behavior to wind speed changes and can be compactly designed because of a shorter rotational shaft, is an effective way for self-controlled stand-alone small-scale systems.

A new software system to test accelerator magnets has been developed at Fermilab. The magnetic measurement technique involved employs a single stretched wire to measure alignment parameters and magnetic field strength. The software for the system is built on top of a flexible component-based framework, which allows for easy reconfiguration and runtime modification. Various user interface, data acquisition, analysis, and data persistence components can be configured to form different measurement systems that are tailored to specific requirements (e.g., involving magnet type or test stand). The system can also be configured with various measurement sequences or tests, each of them controlled by a dedicated script. It is capable of working interactively as well as executing a preselected sequence of tests. Each test can be parameterized to fit the specific magnet type or test stand requirements. The system has been designed with portability in mind and is capable of working on various platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and Windows. It can be configured to use a local data acquisition subsystem or a remote data acquisition computer, such as a VME processor running VxWorks. All hardware-oriented components have been developed with a simulation option that allows for running and testing measurements in the absence of data acquisition hardware.

This document provides a configuration control plan for the software associated with the operation and control of the Integrated Water Treatment System (IWTS). It establishes requirements for ensuring configuration item identification, configuration control, configuration status accounting, defect reporting and resolution of computer software. It is written to comply with HNF-SD-SNF-CM-001, Spent Nuclear Fuel Configuration Management Plan (Forehand 1998) and HNF-PRO-309 Computer Software Quality Assurance Requirements, and applicable sections of administrative procedure CM-6-037-00, SNF Project Process Automation Software and Equipment.

In aircraft assembly, multiple laser trackers are used simultaneously to measure large-scale aircraft components. To combine the independent measurements, the transformation matrices between the laser trackers’ coordinate systems and the assembly coordinate system are calculated, by measuring the enhanced referring system (ERS) points. This article aims to understand the influence of the configuration of the ERS points that affect the transformation matrix errors, and then optimize the deployment of the ERS points to reduce the transformation matrix errors. To optimize the deployment of the ERS points, an explicit model is derived to estimate the transformation matrix errors. The estimation model is verified by the experiment implemented in the factory floor. Based on the proposed model, a group of sensitivity coefficients are derived to evaluate the quality of the configuration of the ERS points, and then several typical configurations of the ERS points are analyzed in detail with the sensitivity coefficients. Finally general guidance is established to instruct the deployment of the ERS points in the aspects of the layout, the volume size and the number of the ERS points, as well as the position and orientation of the assembly coordinate system. PMID:26402685

In aircraft assembly, multiple laser trackers are used simultaneously to measure large-scale aircraft components. To combine the independent measurements, the transformation matrices between the laser trackers' coordinate systems and the assembly coordinate system are calculated, by measuring the enhanced referring system (ERS) points. This article aims to understand the influence of the configuration of the ERS points that affect the transformation matrix errors, and then optimize the deployment of the ERS points to reduce the transformation matrix errors. To optimize the deployment of the ERS points, an explicit model is derived to estimate the transformation matrix errors. The estimation model is verified by the experiment implemented in the factory floor. Based on the proposed model, a group of sensitivity coefficients are derived to evaluate the quality of the configuration of the ERS points, and then several typical configurations of the ERS points are analyzed in detail with the sensitivity coefficients. Finally general guidance is established to instruct the deployment of the ERS points in the aspects of the layout, the volume size and the number of the ERS points, as well as the position and orientation of the assembly coordinate system. PMID:26402685

Various configurations combining solar-Rankine and fuel-Brayton cycles were analyzed in order to find the arrangement which has the highest thermal efficiency and the smallest fuel share. A numerical example is given to evaluate both the thermodynamic performance and the economic feasibility of each configuration. The solar-assisted regenerative Rankine cycle was found to be leading the candidates from both points of energy utilization and fuel conservation.

The Mission data Processing and Control Subsystem (MPCS) is being developed as a multi-mission Ground Data System with the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) as the first fully supported mission. MPCS is a fully featured, Java-based Ground Data System (GDS) for telecommand and telemetry processing based on Configuration-Driven Development (CDD). The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is the ideal language for CDD because it is easily readable and editable by all levels of users and is also backed by a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard and numerous powerful processing tools that make it uniquely flexible. The CDD approach adopted by MPCS minimizes changes to compiled code by using XML to create a series of configuration files that provide both coarse and fine grained control over all aspects of GDS operation.

The present invention is related to systems and methods for modifying various non-equidimensional substrates with modifying agents. The system comprises a processing chamber configured for passing the non-equidimensional substrate therethrough, wherein the processing chamber is further configured to accept a treatment mixture into the chamber during movement of the non-equidimensional substrate through the processing chamber. The treatment mixture can comprise of the modifying agent in a carrier medium, wherein the carrier medium is selected from the group consisting of a supercritical fluid, a near-critical fluid, a superheated fluid, a superheated liquid, and a liquefied gas. Thus, the modifying agent can be applied to the non-equidimensional substrate upon contact between the treatment mixture and the non-equidimensional substrate.

The present invention is related to systems and methods for modifying various non-equidimensional substrates with modifying agents. The system comprises a processing chamber configured for passing the non-equidimensional substrate therethrough, wherein the processing chamber is further configured to accept a treatment mixture into the chamber during movement of the non-equidimensional substrate through the processing chamber. The treatment mixture can comprise of the modifying agent in a carrier medium, wherein the carrier medium is selected from the group consisting of a supercritical fluid, a near-critical fluid, a superheated fluid, a superheated liquid, and a liquefied gas. Thus, the modifying agent can be applied to the non-equidimensional substrate upon contact between the treatment mixture and the non-equidimensional substrate.

The basic relation is described between conversion of thermal energy into convective fluid motion and convective transport of thermal energy, and the equilibrium configuration of a sunspot's magnetic field is shown to be unstable to the hydromagnetic exchange instability. It is determined that heat transport necessarily accompanies convective driving of fluid motion and that the formation of cool sunspots requires convection extending coherently over several scale heights, a distance of at least 500 km. Several theoretical possibilities for sunspot stabilization are reviewed, and it is suggested that a suitable redistribution of cooling in the umbra may be the stabilization mechanism. It is believed that if cooling extends to a great depth in an elongated portion of a sunspot, the magnetic pressure on the boundary will be reduced, tending to reduce the elongation.

Technologies are provided for underwater measurements. A system includes an underwater vessels including: a plurality of sensors disposed thereon for measuring underwater properties; and a programmable controller configured to selectively activate the plurality of sensors based at least in part on underwater pressure. A user may program at what pressure ranges certain sensors are activated to measure selected properties, and may also program the ascent/descent rate of the underwater vessel, which is correlated with the underwater pressure.

The flight test activities of the Rotor System Research Aircraft (RSRA), NASA 740, from June 30, 1981 to August 5, 1982 are reported. Tests were conducted in both the helicopter and compound configurations. Compound tests reconfirmed the Sikorsky flight envelope except that main rotor blade bending loads reached endurance at a speed about 10 knots lower than previously. Wing incidence changes were made from 0 to 10 deg.

This paper purposes an Accelerator-Driven Subcritical (ADS) system which utilizes the Minor Actinides (MAs) from the US spent nuclear fuel inventory. A mobile fuel concept with micro-particles suspended in the liquid metal is adopted in the purposed system to avoid difficulties of developing and testing new MAs solid fuel forms. Three ADS configurations were developed and analyzed using the Monte Carlo fuel burnup methodology. The analyses demonstrated the capabilities of the proposed system to utilize the MAs and to dispose of the US spent nuclear fuels. (authors)

An experimental investigation of the DLR-F6 generic transport configuration was conducted in the NASA NTF for use in the Drag Prediction Workshop. As data from this experimental investigation was collected, a large difference in drag values was seen between the NTF test and an ONERA test that was conducted several years ago. After much investigation, it was determined that this difference was likely due to a sting effect correction applied to the ONERA data which NTF does not use. This insight led to the present work. In this study, a computational assessment has been undertaken to investigate model support system interference effects on the DLR-F6 transport configuration. The configurations computed during this investigation were the isolated wing-body, the wing-body with the full support system (blade and sting), the wing-body with just the blade, and the wing-body with just the sting. The results from this investigation show the same trends that ONERA saw when they conducted a similar experimental investigation in the S2MA tunnel. Computational results suggest that the blade contributed an interference type of effect, the sting contributed a general blockage effect, and the full support system combined these effects.

The recent Kepler discovery of KOI-152 reveals a system of three hot super-Earth candidates that are in or near a 4:2:1 mean motion resonance. It is unlikely that they formed in situ; the planets probably underwent orbital migration during the formation and evolution process. The small semimajor axes of the three planets suggest that migration stopped at the inner edge of the primordial gas disk. In this paper, we focus on the influence of migration halting mechanisms, including migration 'dead zones', and inner truncation by the stellar magnetic field. We show that the stellar accretion rate, stellar magnetic field, and the speed of migration in the protoplanetary disk are the main factors affecting the final configuration of KOI-152. Our simulations suggest that three planets may be around a star with low star accretion rate or with high magnetic field. On the other hand, slow type I migration, which decreases to one-tenth of the linear analysis results, favors forming the configuration of KOI-152. Under such a formation scenario, the planets in the system are not massive enough to open gaps in the gas disk. The upper limits of the planetary masses are estimated to be about 15, 19, and 24 M{sub Circled-Plus }, respectively. Our results are also indicative of the near Laplacian configurations that are quite common in planetary systems.

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the primary damage formation in α-Fe through collision cascades with a cascade energy of up to 100 keV. The pair analysis technique was introduced to characterize the spatial local structure distributions of atoms. The damaged microstructural unit characteristics of the body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure, as well as the number of point defects, followed a similar trend. Furthermore, the damaged atoms exist mostly in the microstructural characteristics of icosahedral and short-range ordering in amorphous states during and at the end of cascades. Most local spatial structures of the damaged atoms can be divided into two groups based on their corresponding non-characteristic index-pair change trends with time. The curves of the first group coincided with the vacancy (V) that exhibited one peak, whereas the curves of the second group exhibiting two peaks corresponded to the self-interstitial atoms (SIA). The maximum distance at which defects could interact with each other in space was the fifth nearest-neighbor distance of the atoms of perfect lattices in the bcc lattice. The number of local structural units of the damaged atoms that were connected with a single point defect (either V or SIA) continued to increase with increasing cascade energy by the end of the simulation. By contrast, the number of units that were connected with both V and SIA decreased. These results may help us understand the spatial configuration of atoms in the course of collision cascades.

Electric and hybrid vehicles are going to become the most reliable source of transport for future years. The CO2 and NOx targets in Euro 6 normative puts the producers of vehicles in a dilemma, whether to adapt the internal combustion engines further, or to develop hybrid or electric power trains that are going to reach the pollution limit of the future norms or to go below that. Before acting a well-developed strategy in determining the optimum power flow has to be developed by producers; CRUISE software is a tool with the unique and special characteristics to determine the optimum in this highly important area. Whether electric vehicle, electric vehicle with range extender or a hybrid with CVT or planetary gearbox, the complexity of the mathematical modules remains the same, giving the developer the possibility to create complex functions and distinctive characteristics for each component of the vehicle. With such a powerful tool it becomes extremely easy to evaluate the energy flow in all directions, from electric machine to the battery, from electric machine to the power generator, and from the electric machine to the internal combustion engine. Applying to the (Electric Vehicle, Electric Vehicle with Range Extender, Hybrid vehicle with CVT, Hybrid vehicle with planetary gear set) the ECE-15 in a virtual environment (urban driving cycle) the simulation results show a different usage, rate of storage and efficiency concerning the energy, this being dependent of the power train configuration in most part.

In late 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a series of studies to address issues related to potential high penetration of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation systems on our nation’s electric grid. This Renewable Systems Interconnection (RSI) initiative resulted in the publication of 14 reports and an Executive Summary that defined needs in areas related to utility planning tools and business models, new grid architectures and PV systemsconfigurations, and models to assess market penetration and the effects of high-penetration PV systems. As a result of this effort, the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) program was initiated in early 2008. SEGIS is an industry-led effort to develop new PV inverters, controllers, and energy management systems that will greatly enhance the utility of distributed PV systems.

A method of assembling an energy harvesting system is provided. The method includes coupling at least one energy storage device in flow communication with at least one apparatus that is configured to generate thermal energy and to transfer the thermal energy into at least one fluid stream. The energy storage device is configured to store the fluid stream. Moreover, the method includes coupling at least one fluid transfer device downstream from the energy storage device. The fluid transfer device receives the fluid stream from the energy storage device. A bladeless turbine is coupled in flow communication with the fluid transfer device, wherein the bladeless turbine receives the fluid stream to generate power.

Peak and average energy usage in domestic and industrial environments is growing rapidly and absence of detailed energy consumption metrics is making systematic reduction of energy usage very difficult. Smart energy management system aims at providing a cost-effective solution for managing soaring energy consumption and its impact on green house gas emissions and climate change. The solution is based on seamless integration of existing wired and wireless communication technologies combined with smart context-aware software which offers a complete solution for automation of energy measurement and device control. The persuasive software presents users with easy-to-assimilate visual cues identifying problem areas and time periods and encourages a behavioural change to conserve energy. The system allows analysis of real-time/statistical consumption data with the ability to drill down into detailed analysis of power consumption, CO2 emissions and cost. The system generates intelligent projections and suggests potential methods (e.g. reducing standby, tuning heating/cooling temperature, etc.) of reducing energy consumption. The user interface is accessible using web enabled devices such as PDAs, PCs, etc. or using SMS, email, and instant messaging. Successful real-world trial of the system has demonstrated the potential to save 20 to 30% energy consumption on an average. Low cost of deployment and the ability to easily manage consumption from various web enabled devices offers gives this system a high penetration and impact capability offering a sustainable solution to act on climate change today.

High reliability is desired in all engineered systems. One way to improve system reliability is to use redundant components. When redundant components are used, the problem becomes one of allocating them to achieve the best reliability without exceeding other design constraints such as cost, weight, or volume. Systems with few components can be optimized by simply examining every possible combination but the number of combinations for most systems is prohibitive. A computerized iteration of the process is possible but anything short of a super computer requires too much time to be practical. Many researchers have derived mathematical formulations for calculating the optimum configuration directly. However, most of the derivations are based on continuous functions whereas the real system is composed of discrete entities. Therefore, these techniques are approximations of the true optimum solution. This paper describes a computer program that will determine the optimum configuration of a system of multiple redundancy of both standard and optional components. The algorithm is a pair-wise comparative progression technique which can derive the true optimum by calculating only a small fraction of the total number of combinations. A designer can quickly analyze a system with this program on a personal computer.

A pair of 1kWe free-piston Stirling power convertors has been modified into a thermodynamically coupled configuration, and performance map testing has been completed. This is the same configuration planned for the full-scale 12 kWe power conversion unit (PCU) that will be used in the Fission Power System Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU). The 1-kWe convertors were operated over a range of conditions to evaluate the effects of thermodynamic coupling on convertor performance and to identify any possible control challenges. The thermodynamically coupled convertor showed no measurable difference in performance from the baseline data collected when the engines were separate and no major control issues were encountered during operation. The results of this test are guiding controller development and instrumentation selection for the TDU.

A pair of 1-kWe free-piston Stirling power convertors has been modified into a thermodynamically coupled configuration, and performance map testing has been completed. This is the same configuration planned for the full-scale 12-kWe power conversion unit (PCU) that will be used in the Fission Power System Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU). The 1-kWe convertors were operated over a range of conditions to evaluate the effects of thermodynamic coupling on convertor performance and to identify any possible control challenges. The thermodynamically coupled convertor showed no measureable difference in performance from the baseline data collected when the engines were separate, and no major control issues were encountered during operation. The results of this test are guiding controller development and instrumentation selection for the TDU.

This paper is concerned with the design and development of a semi-autonomous wheelchair system using cameras in a systemconfiguration modeled on the vision system of a horse. This new camera configuration utilizes stereoscopic vision for 3-Dimensional (3D) depth perception and mapping ahead of the wheelchair, combined with a spherical camera system for 360-degrees of monocular vision. This unique combination allows for static components of an unknown environment to be mapped and any surrounding dynamic obstacles to be detected, during real-time autonomous navigation, minimizing blind-spots and preventing accidental collisions with people or obstacles. This novel vision system combined with shared control strategies provides intelligent assistive guidance during wheelchair navigation and can accompany any hands-free wheelchair control technology. Leading up to experimental trials with patients at the Royal Rehabilitation Centre (RRC) in Ryde, results have displayed the effectiveness of this system to assist the user in navigating safely within the RRC whilst avoiding potential collisions. PMID:22255649

A versatile and configurablesystem has been developed in order to monitorize the beam position and to meet all the requirements of the future ESS-Bilbao Linac. At the same time the design has been conceived to be open and configurable so that it could eventually be used in different kinds of accelerators, independent of the charged particle, with minimal change. The design of the Beam Position Monitors (BPMs) system includes a test bench both for button-type pick-ups (PU) and striplines (SL), the electronic units and the control system. The electronic units consist of two main parts. The first part is an Analog Front-End (AFE) unit where the RF signals are filtered, conditioned and converted to base-band. The second part is a Digital Front-End (DFE) unit which is based on an FPGA board where the base-band signals are sampled in order to calculate the beam position, the amplitude and the phase. To manage the system a Multipurpose Controller (MC) developed at ESSB has been used. It includes the FPGA management, the EPICS integration and Archiver Instances. A description of the system and a comparison between the performance of both PU and SL BPM designs measured with this electronics system are fully described and discussed.

Nonparaxial ray tracing through Risley prisms of four different configurations is performed to give the exact solution of the inverse problem arisen from applications of Risley prisms to free space communications. Predictions of the exact solution and the third-order theory [Appl. Opt. 50, 679 (2011)] are compared and results are shown by curves for systems using prisms of different materials. The exact solution for the problem of precision pointing is generalized to investigate the synthesis of the scan pattern, i.e., to create a desirable scan pattern on some plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the system by controlling the circular motion of the two prisms. PMID:21833103

In energy management system is provided for a power generating device having a working fluid intake in which the energy management system comprises an electrical dissipation device coupled to the power generating device and a dissipation device cooling systemconfigured to direct a portion of a working fluid to the electrical dissipation device so as to provide thermal control to the electrical dissipation device.

A hydromechanical/hydrostatic automotive energy management system is described that is comprised of two hydraulic units, the system adapted to provide: an efficient, continuously variable optimal transmission ratio, an intermittent optimal engine operation in city traffic and regenerative braking, thereby, the system is able to reduce a car's fuel consumption by as much as one half while improving drivability.

In the framework of the Myocean EU (FP7 and Horizon 2020) funded projects , Mercator Ocean, the French operational oceanography center, is in charge of the development and of the production of real time analysis and forecasts and reanalysis for the global ocean at the resolution of 1/12°. The operational systems are all based on the ocean and sea ice model NEMO and the multivariate data assimilation system SAM2 (Système d'Assimilation Mercator V2). The assimilation method is a reduced order Kalman filter based on SEEK formulation with bias correction scheme for temperature and salinity and an Incremental Analysis Update. The strong need of a realistic description of the mean state and variability of the rapid changing Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas over the last decades motivated the use of the Canadian Arctic Ocean and Nordic seas configuration (CREG). This dedicated configuration at 1/12° developed by the Canadian research teams has been coupled to the multivariate data assimilation system SAM2. The objectives of this pan-Arctic platform is both to improve the sea ice assimilation method used in the Mercator Ocean and Canadian analysis and forecasting systems and to produce reanalysis over recent periods at lower numerical cost in order to prepare global higher resolution reanalysis. After a description of this Arctic reanalysis system, we present first results on the abilities of this configuration to reproduce sea ice extent and volume interannual variability without assimilation and, secondly, the impact of assimilating sea ice data on the sea ice cover with short hindcasts experiments.

This paper describes a novel detection system based on small-angle optical deflection from the collinear configuration of a microfluidic chip. In this system, the incident light beam was focused on the microchannel through the edge of a lens, resulting in a small deflection angle that deviated 20° from the collinear configuration. The emitted fluorescence was collected through the center of the same lens and delivered to a photomultiplier tube in the vertical direction; the reflection light of the chip plate was kept away from the detector. In contrast to traditional confocal and nonconfocal laser-induced fluorescence detection systems, background levels resulting from scattered excitation light, reflection and refraction from the microchip was significantly eliminated. Significant enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio was obtained by shaping a laser beam that combined an attenuator with a spectral filter to optimize laser power and the dimensions of the laser beam. FITC and FITC-labeled amino acid were used as model analytes to demonstrate the performance sensitivity, separation efficiency, and reproducibility of this detection system by using a hybrid polydimethylsiloxane/glass microfluidic device. The limit of detection of FITC was estimated to be 2 pM (0.55 zmol) (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the single cell analysis for the determination of intracellular glutathione in a single 3T3 mouse fibroblast cell was demonstrated. The results suggest that the proposed optical arrangements will be promising for development of sensitive, low-cost microfluidic systems. PMID:22806465

The Event Monitor and Incident Response system (emir) is a flexible, general-purpose system for monitoring and responding to all aspects of instrument, telescope, and general facility operations, and has been in use at the Automated Planet Finder telescope for two years. Responses to problems can include both passive actions (e.g. generating alerts) and active actions (e.g. modifying system settings). Emir includes a monitor-and-response daemon, plus graphical user interfaces and text-based clients that automatically configure themselves from data supplied at runtime by the daemon. The daemon is driven by a configuration file that describes each condition to be monitored, the actions to take when the condition is triggered, and how the conditions are aggregated into hierarchical groups of conditions. Emir has been implemented for the Keck Task Library (KTL) keyword-based systems used at Keck and Lick Observatories, but can be readily adapted to many event-driven architectures. This paper discusses the design and implementation of Emir , and the challenges in balancing the competing demands for simplicity, flexibility, power, and extensibility. Emir 's design lends itself well to multiple purposes, and in addition to its core monitor and response functions, it provides an effective framework for computing running statistics, aggregate values, and summary state values from the primitive state data generated by other subsystems, and even for creating quick-and-dirty control loops for simple systems.

The high power helicon (HPH) deposits up to 40 kW of power into a plasma, generating a plasma beam with a measured source density of 1x10^20 m-3 and energies in the range of 20-40 eV. Recently, the arrangement of magnetic nozzles downstream of the plasma source has been modified in order to produce a flux conserving configuration. Retarded field energy analyzer (RFEA) measurements of the ion energy distribution functions at two locations downstream of the plasma source, 67 cm and 144 cm away, have been carried out. Data on the number density, ion velocity, and energy density of the plasma beam at these locations will be presented. An improvement in performance over the previous nozzle configuration is observed. Additionally, results suggest that the energy density of the beam does not decrease with distance from the source between the two locations.

The Reynolds number, aeroelasticity, boundary layer transition, and nonadiabatic wall temperature effects, and data repeatability was determined in the National Transonic Facility (NTF) for a subsonic, energy efficient transport model. The model was tested over a Mach number range of 0.50 to 0.86 and a Reynolds number range of 1.9 million to approximately 23.0 million (based on mean geometric chord). The majority of the data was taken using cryogenic nitrogen (data at 1.9 million Reynolds number was taken in air). Force and moment, wing pressure, and wing thermocouple data are presented. The data indicate that increasing Reynolds number resulted in greater effective camber of the supercritical wing and horizontal tail, resulting in greater lift and pitching moment coefficients at nearly all angles of attack for M = 0.82. As Reynolds number was increased, untrimmed L/D increased, the angle of attack for maximum L/D decreased, drag creep was reduced significantly, and drag divergence Mach number increased slightly. Data repeatability for both modes of operation of the NTF (air and cryogenic nitrogen) was generally very good, and nonadiabatic wall effects were estimated to be small. Transition-free and transition-fixed configurations had significantly different force and moment data at M = 0.82 for low Reynolds number, and very small differences were noted at high Reynolds numbers.

The fixed-wing, airplane configuration flight-test results of the Rotor System Research Aircraft (RSRA), NASA 740, at Ames/Dryden Flight Research Center are documented. Fourteen taxi and flight tests were performed from December 1983 to October 1984. This was the first time the RSRA was flown with the main rotor removed; the tail rotor was installed. These tests confirmed that the RSRA is operable as a fixed-wing aircraft. Data were obtained for various takeoff and landing distances, control sensitivity, trim and dynamics stability characteristics, performance rotor-hub drag, and acoustics signature. Stability data were obtained with the rotor hub both installed and removed. The speed envelope was developed to 261 knots true airspeed (KTAS), 226 knots calibrated airspeed (KCAS) at 10,000 ft density altitude. The airplane was configured at 5 deg. wing incidence with 5 deg. wing flaps as a normal configuration. Level-flight data were acquired at 167 KCAS for wing incidence from 0 to 10 deg. Step inputs and doublet inputs of various magnitudes were utilized to acquire dynamic stability and control sensitivity data. Sine-wave inputs of constantly increasing frequency were used to generate parameter identification data. The maximum load factor attained was 2.34 g at 206 KCAS.

This paper describes Livingstone, an implemented kernel for a model-based reactive self-configuring autonomous system. It presents a formal characterization of Livingstone`s representation formalism, and reports on our experience with the implementation in a variety of domains. Livingstone provides a reactive system that performs significant deduction in the sense/response loop by drawing on our past experience at building fast propositional conflict-based algorithms for model-based diagnosis, and by framing a model-based configuration manager as a propositional feedback controller that generates focused, optimal responses. Livingstone`s representation formalism achieves broad coverage of hybrid hardware/software systems by coupling the transition system models underlying concurrent reactive languages with the qualitative representations developed in model-based reasoning. Livingstone automates a wide variety of tasks using a single model and a single core algorithm, thus making significant progress towards achieving a central goal of model-based reasoning. Livingstone, together with the HSTS planning and scheduling engine and the RAPS executive, has been selected as part of the core autonomy architecture for NASA`s first New Millennium spacecraft.

The purpose of this program is to show New England farmers and other New England energy users how they can use alternative energy sources to reduce their energy cost and dependency on conventional sources. The project demonstrates alternative energy technologies in solar, alcohol and methane. Dissemination is planned through tours to be conducted by the Worcester County Extension Service. Most of these goals were completed as planned. A few things have yet to be completed. The solar panels and solar hot water tanks have to be installed. The fermenter's agitating and cooling system have to be secured inside the fermenter. Once these items are complete tours will begin early in the spring.

Calibrated in kilowatt hours per square meter, the solar counter produced by Dodge Products, Inc. provides a numerical count of the solar energy that has accumulated on a surface. Solar energy sensing, measuring and recording devices in corporate solar cell technology developed by Lewis Research Center. Customers for their various devices include architects, engineers and others engaged in construction and operation of solar energy facilities; manufacturers of solar systems or solar related products, such as glare reducing windows; and solar energy planners in federal and state government agencies.

A set of functional requirements for software configuration management (CM) and metrics reporting for Space Station Freedom ground systems software are described. This report is one of a series from a study of the interfaces among the Ground Systems Development Environment (GSDE), the development systems for the Space Station Training Facility (SSTF) and the Space Station Control Center (SSCC), and the target systems for SSCC and SSTF. The focus is on the CM of the software following delivery to NASA and on the software metrics that relate to the quality and maintainability of the delivered software. The CM and metrics requirements address specific problems that occur in large-scale software development. Mechanisms to assist in the continuing improvement of mission operations software development are described.

This study investigates how the environmental performance of water-cooled chiller systems can be optimized by applying load-based speed control to all the system components. New chiller and cooling tower models were developed using a transient systems simulation program called TRNSYS 15 in order to assess the electricity and water consumption of a chiller plant operating for a building cooling load profile. The chiller model was calibrated using manufacturer's performance data and used to analyze the coefficient of performance when the design and control of chiller components are changed. The NTU-effectiveness approach was used for the cooling tower model to consider the heat transfer effectiveness at various air-to-water flow ratios and to identify the makeup water rate. Applying load-based speed control to the cooling tower fans and pumps could save an annual plant operating cost by around 15% relative to an equivalent system with constant speed configurations.

The Living SystemsEnergy Module, renamed Voyage from the Sun, is a twenty-lesson curriculum designed to introduce students to the major ways in which energy is important in living systems. Voyage from the Sun tells the story of energy, describing its solar origins, how it is incorporated into living terrestrial systems through photosynthesis, how it flows from plants to herbivorous animals, and from herbivores to carnivores. A significant part of the unit is devoted to examining how humans use energy, and how human impact on natural habitats affects ecosystems. As students proceed through the unit, they read chapters of Voyage from the Sun, a comic book that describes the flow of energy in story form (Appendix A). During the course of the unit, an ``Energy Pyramid`` is erected in the classroom. This three-dimensional structure serves as a classroom exhibit, reminding students daily of the importance of energy and of the fragile nature of our living planet. Interactive activities teach students about adaptations that allow plants and animals to acquire, to use and to conserve energy. A complete list of curricular materials and copies of all activity sheets appear in Appendix B.

The reduction of air-conditioning energy consumptions is one of the main indicators to act on when improving the energy efficiency in buildings. In the case of advanced technological buildings, a meaningful contribution to the thermal loads and the energy consumptions reduction could depend on the correct configuration and management of the envelope systems. In recent years, the architectural trend toward highly transparent all-glass buildings presents a unique challenge and opportunity to advance the market for emerging, smart, dynamic window and dimmable daylighting control technologies (). A prototype dynamic glazing system was developed and tested at ITC-CNR; it is aimed at actively responding to the external environmental loads. Both an experimental campaign and analyses by theoretical models were carried out, aimed at evaluating the possible configurations depending on different weather conditions in several possible places. Therefore, the analytical models of the building-plant system were defined by using a dynamic energy simulation software (EnergyPlus). The variables that determine the system performance, also influenced by the boundary conditions, were analysed, such as U- and g-value; they concern both the morphology of the envelope system, such as dimensions, shading and glazing type, gap airflow thickness, in-gap airflow rate, and management, in terms of control algorithm parameters tuning fan and shading systems, as a function of the weather conditions. The configuration able to provide the best performances was finally identified by also assessing such performances, integrating the dynamic system in several building types and under different weather conditions. The dynamic envelope system prototype has become a commercial product with some applications in facade systems, curtain walls and windows. The paper describes the methodological approach to prototype development and the main results obtained, including simulations of possible applications on

In the year 1957 the first artificial object made by mankind was placed into an Earth orbit. This was the beginning of space flight and also of space surveillance. During the 53 years up to now the leading nations of space flight -the United States of America and Russia (former Soviet Union) -established their own surveillance networks to be aware of the objects in space. However, the access to the resulting data was or still is restricted so that Europe intends to build up its own surveillance network in the next couple of years. Different sensor systems shall be part of the European Space Surveillance System (ESSS). Radar systems will be used for the detection of objects in low earth orbits (LEO) while traditional optical systems will be used to cover the population in the upper medium earth orbit (MEO) and the geostationary earth orbit (GEO). Modern optical satellite surveillance systems shall also be able to detect objects in the upper LEO region up to GEO. To evaluate the best setup for a future ESSS possible sensor systems have to be combined in different configurations and their performance has to be analysed. For this purpose the PROOF-2009 software will be utilized. As a base population the MASTER-2009 population for the epoch May 1st , 2040 will be used. This population includes nearly one million objects larger than one centimeter in all orbital regions from LEO to GEO and is used in upcoming studies as reference population. The comparison will be split into three parts. In the first part different radar setups will be compared while the second part deals with the comparison of different setups for optical systems to cover the population of high altitudes. The configurations for optical systems will consist of ground based or space based telescopes. Results of an analysis of the modern optical satellite surveillance systems will be shown in the third part and compared with the results of part one and two. Finally an example for an ESSS configuration

This document is the third sub-report of the EUV AIM design study being conducted at LLNL on behalf of International Sematech (ISMT). The purpose of this study as identified in section 1.2 of the statement of work is to research the basic user requirements of an actinic defect characterization tool, potential design configurations and top-level specifications. The objectives of this design study specifically identified in section 1.3 of the statement of work were to: (1) Determine the user requirements of an actinic defect characterization tool; (2) Determine if an EUV AIM tool is an appropriate platform for actinic defect characterization; (3) Determine possible design configurations and top-level performance specifications; (4) Identify potential technical issues and risks of different technical approaches; (5) Provide estimates of cost relating to different technical approaches; and (6) Provide simulated performance for key subsystems and the entire system. The sub-sections of the study to be addressed were accordingly defined in the statement of work as being: (1) Formulation of top-level specifications; (2) Identification of systemconfigurations suitable for meeting the top-level specifications; (3) Preliminary design of imaging systems; (4) Preliminary design of illumination systems; (5) Prediction and comparison of performance through aerial image calculation; (6) Identification of sub-system requirements; (7) Identification of potential vendors; (8) Estimation of system cost; (9) Identification of technical issues; and (10) Definition of technology transfer or development required. Points 1 and 2 have already been addressed in previous reports to ISMT. This document addresses points 3 to 7, and 9 to 10 of the above list--formulation of a preliminary design of the imaging and illumination systems and the evaluation and comparison of potential designs through aerial image analysis. As such this report should be read in conjunction with and in the context of

This paper documents results of computational analysis performed after flexible thermal protection system shear configuration testing in the LCAT facility. The primary objectives were to predict the shear force on the sample and the sensitivity of all surface properties to the shape of the sample. Bumps of 0.05, 0.10,and 0.15 inches were created to approximate the shape of some fabric samples during testing. A large amount of information was extracted from the CFD solutions for comparison between runs and also current or future flight simulations.

A study was conducted to determine the configuration and tradeoffs of a tracking and data relay satellite. The study emphasized the design of a three axis stabilized satellite and a telecommunications system optimized for support of low and medium data rate user spacecraft. Telecommunications support to low and high, or low medium, and high data rate users, considering launches with the Delta 2914, the Atlas/Centaur, and the space shuttle was also considered. The following subjects are presented: (1) launch and deployment profile, (2) spacecraft mechanical and structural design, (3) attitude stabilization and control subsystem, and (4) reliability analysis.

This paper details how simple PC software, a small network of consumer level PCs, some do-it-yourself hardware and four low cost video projectors can be combined to form an easily configurable and transportable projection display with applications in virtual reality training. This paper provides some observations on the practical difficulties of using such a system, its effectiveness in delivering a VE for training and what benefit may be offered through the deployment of a large number of these low cost environments.

A possible scenario for robot task performance in space is to mount two small, dexterous arms to the end of the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). As these small robots perform tasks, the flexibility of the SRMS may cause unsuccessful task executions. In order to simulate the dynamic coupling between the SRMS and the arms, admittance models of the SRMS in four brakes locked configurations were developed. The admittance model permits calculation of the SRMS end-effector response due to end-effector disturbing forces. The model will then be used in conjunction with a Stewart Platform, a vehicle emulation system. An application of the admittance model was shown by simulating the disturbing forces using two SRMS payloads, the Dextrous Orbital Servicing System (DOSS) manipulator and DOSS carrying a 1000 lb. cylinder. Mode by mode comparisons were conducted to determine the minimum number of modes required in the admittance model while retaining dynamic fidelity. It was determined that for all four SRMS configurations studied, between 4 and 6 modes of the SRMS structure (depending on the excitation loads) were sufficient to retain tolerance of 0.01 inches and 0.01 deg. These tolerances correspond to the DOSS manipulator carrying no object. When the DOSS carries the 1000 lb. cylinder, between 15 and 20 modes were sufficient, approximately three or four times as many modes as for the unloaded case.

A NASA Dryden Flight Research Center program explores the practical application of real-time adaptive configuration optimization for enhanced transport performance on an L-1011 aircraft. This approach is based on calculation of incremental drag from forced-response, symmetric, outboard aileron maneuvers. In real-time operation, the symmetric outboard aileron deflection is directly optimized, and the horizontal stabilator and angle of attack are indirectly optimized. A flight experiment has been conducted from an onboard research engineering test station, and flight research results are presented herein. The optimization system has demonstrated the capability of determining the minimum drag configuration of the aircraft in real time. The drag-minimization algorithm is capable of identifying drag to approximately a one-drag-count level. Optimizing the symmetric outboard aileron position realizes a drag reduction of 2-3 drag counts (approximately 1 percent). Algorithm analysis of maneuvers indicate that two-sided raised-cosine maneuvers improve definition of the symmetric outboard aileron drag effect, thereby improving analysis results and consistency. Ramp maneuvers provide a more even distribution of data collection as a function of excitation deflection than raised-cosine maneuvers provide. A commercial operational system would require airdata calculations and normal output of current inertial navigation systems; engine pressure ratio measurements would be optional.

In this progress report (covering the period May 1997--May 1998), the authors summarize results from ongoing technical and economic assessments of hydrogen energysystems. Generally, the goal of their research is to illuminate possible pathways leading from present hydrogen markets and technologies toward wide scale use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, highlighting important technologies for RD and D. Over the past year they worked on three projects. From May 1997--November 1997, the authors completed an assessment of hydrogen as a fuel for fuel cell vehicles, as compared to methanol and gasoline. Two other studies were begun in November 1997 and are scheduled for completion in September 1998. The authors are carrying out an assessment of potential supplies and demands for hydrogen energy in the New York City/New Jersey area. The goal of this study is to provide useful data and suggest possible implementation strategies for the New York City/ New Jersey area, as the Hydrogen Program plans demonstrations of hydrogen vehicles and refueling infrastructure. The authors are assessing the implications of CO{sub 2} sequestration for hydrogen energysystems. The goals of this work are (a) to understand the implications of CO{sub 2} sequestration for hydrogen energysystem design; (b) to understand the conditions under which CO{sub 2} sequestration might become economically viable; and (c) to understand design issues for future low-CO{sub 2} emitting hydrogen energysystems based on fossil fuels.

A new multireference configuration interaction method using localised orbitals is proposed, in which a molecular system is divided into regions of unequal importance. The advantage of dealing with local orbitals, i.e., the possibility to neglect long range interaction is enhanced. Indeed, while in the zone of the molecule where the important phenomena occur, the interaction cut off may be as small as necessary to get relevant results, in the most part of the system it can be taken rather large, so that results of good quality may be obtained at a lower cost. The method is tested on several systems. In one of them, the definition of the various regions is not based on topological considerations, but on the nature, σ or π, of the localised orbitals, which puts in evidence the generality of the approach. PMID:22979845

A new multireference configuration interaction method using localised orbitals is proposed, in which a molecular system is divided into regions of unequal importance. The advantage of dealing with local orbitals, i.e., the possibility to neglect long range interaction is enhanced. Indeed, while in the zone of the molecule where the important phenomena occur, the interaction cut off may be as small as necessary to get relevant results, in the most part of the system it can be taken rather large, so that results of good quality may be obtained at a lower cost. The method is tested on several systems. In one of them, the definition of the various regions is not based on topological considerations, but on the nature, σ or π, of the localised orbitals, which puts in evidence the generality of the approach.

Two modifications of the perturbative doubles correction to configuration interaction with single substitutions (CIS(D)) are suggested, which are excited state analogs of ground state scaled second order Moeller-Plesset (MP2) methods. The first approach employs two parameters to scale the two spin components of the direct term of CIS(D), starting from the two-parameter spin-component scaled (SCS) MP2 ground state, and is termed SCS-CIS(D). An efficient resolution-of-the-identity (RI) implementation of this approach is described. The second approach employs a single parameter to scale only the opposite-spin direct term of CIS(D), starting from the one-parameter scaled opposite spin (SOS) MP2 ground state, and is called SOS-CIS(D). By utilizing auxiliary basis expansions and a Laplace transform, a fourth order algorithm for SOS-CIS(D) is described and implemented. The parameters describing SCS-CIS(D) and SOS-CIS(D) are optimized based on a training set including valence excitations of various organic molecules and Rydberg transitions of water and ammonia, and they significantly improve upon CIS(D) itself. The accuracy of the two methods is found to be comparable. This arises from a strong correlation between the same-spin and opposite-spin portions of the excitation energy terms. The methods are successfully applied to the zincbacteriochlorin-bacteriochlorin charge transfer transition, for which time-dependent density functional theory, with presently available exchange-correlation functionals, is known to fail. The methods are also successfully applied to describe various electronic transitions outside of the training set. The efficiency of SOS-CIS(D) and the auxiliary basis implementation of CIS(D) and SCS-CIS(D) are confirmed with a series of timing tests.

By means of two supramolecular systems-peptide amphiphiles engaged in hydrogen-bonded β-sheets, and chromophore amphiphiles driven to assemble by π-orbital overlaps-we show that the minima in the energy landscapes of supramolecular systems are defined by electrostatic repulsion and the ability of the dominant attractive forces to trap molecules in thermodynamically unfavourable configurations. These competing interactions can be selectively switched on and off, with the order of doing so determining the position of the final product in the energy landscape. Within the same energy landscape, the peptide-amphiphile system forms a thermodynamically favoured product characterized by long bundled fibres that promote biological cell adhesion and survival, and a metastable product characterized by short monodisperse fibres that interfere with adhesion and can lead to cell death. Our findings suggest that, in supramolecular systems, functions and energy landscapes are linked, superseding the more traditional connection between molecular design and function. PMID:26779883

By means of two supramolecular systems--peptide amphiphiles engaged in hydrogen-bonded β-sheets, and chromophore amphiphiles driven to assemble by π-orbital overlaps--we show that the minima in the energy landscapes of supramolecular systems are defined by electrostatic repulsion and the ability of the dominant attractive forces to trap molecules in thermodynamically unfavourable configurations. These competing interactions can be selectively switched on and off, with the order of doing so determining the position of the final product in the energy landscape. Within the same energy landscape, the peptide-amphiphile system forms a thermodynamically favoured product characterized by long bundled fibres that promote biological cell adhesion and survival, and a metastable product characterized by short monodisperse fibres that interfere with adhesion and can lead to cell death. Our findings suggest that, in supramolecular systems, functions and energy landscapes are linked, superseding the more traditional connection between molecular design and function.

By means of two supramolecular systems - peptide amphiphiles engaged in hydrogen-bonded β-sheets, and chromophore amphiphiles driven to assemble by π-orbital overlaps - we show that the minima in the energy landscapes of supramolecular systems are defined by electrostatic repulsion and the ability of the dominant attractive forces to trap molecules in thermodynamically unfavourable configurations. These competing interactions can be selectively switched on and off, with the order of doing so determining the position of the final product in the energy landscape. Within the same energy landscape, the peptide-amphiphile system forms a thermodynamically favoured product characterized by long bundled fibres that promote biological cell adhesion and survival, and a metastable product characterized by short monodisperse fibres that interfere with adhesion and can lead to cell death. Our findings suggest that, in supramolecular systems, function and energy landscape are linked, superseding the more traditional connection between molecular design and function. PMID:26779883

The MIRTE (Materials in Interacting and Reflecting configurations, all Thicknesses) program was established to answer the needs of criticality safety practitioners in terms of experimental validation of structural materials and to possibly contribute to nuclear data improvement, which ultimately supports reactor safety analysis as well. MIRTE took the shape of a collaboration between the AREVA and ANDRA French industrialists and a noncommercial international funding partner such as the U.S. Department of Energy. The aim of this paper is to present the configurations of the MIRTE 1 and MIRTE 2 programs and to highlight the results of the titanium experiments recently published in the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is engaged in developing ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) systems that are to provide synthetic fuels or an energy intensive product such as ammonia or aluminum. The work also includes assessment and design concepts for hybrid plants, such as geothermal-OTEC plants. The laboratory also has a technical advisory role with respect to DOE/DOET's management of the preliminary design activity of an industry team headed by Ocean Thermal Corporation that is designing an OTEC pilot plant that could be built in shallow water off the shore of Oahu, Hawaii. In addition, the Laboratory is now taking part in a program to evaluate and test the pneumatic wave energy conversion system, an ocean energy device consisting of a turbine that is air driven as a result of wave action in a chamber.

Progress is reported on the development of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems that will provide synthetic fuels (e.g., methanol), energy-intensive products such as ammonia (for fertilizers and chemicals), and aluminum. The work also includes assessment and design concepts for hybrid plants, such as geothermal-OTEC (GEOTEC) plants. Another effort that began in the spring of 1982 is a technical advisory role to DOE with respect to their management of the conceptual and preliminary design activity of industry teams that are designing a shelf-mounted offshore OTEC pilot plant that could deliver power to Oahu, Hawaii. In addition, a program is underway to evaluate and test the Pneumatic Wave-Energy Conversion System (PWECS), an ocean-energy device consisting of a turbine that is air-driven as a result of wave action in a chamber. The work on the various tasks as of 31 March 1983 is reported.

A fixed, linear, ground-based primary reflector having an extended curved sawtooth-contoured surface covered with a metalized polymeric reflecting material, reflects solar energy to a movably supported collector that is kept at the concentrated line focus reflector primary. The primary reflector may be constructed by a process utilizing well known freeway paving machinery. The solar energy absorber is preferably a fluid transporting pipe. Efficient utilization leading to high temperatures from the reflected solar energy is obtained by cylindrical shaped secondary reflectors that direct off-angle energy to the absorber pipe. A seriatim arrangement of cylindrical secondary reflector stages and spot-forming reflector stages produces a high temperature solar energy collection system of greater efficiency.

The storage and farming departments at the INFN-CNAF Tier1[1] manage approximately thousands of computing nodes and several hundreds of servers that provides access to the disk and tape storage. In particular, the storage server machines should provide the following services: an efficient access to about 15 petabytes of disk space with different cluster of GPFS file system, the data transfers between LHC Tiers sites (Tier0, Tier1 and Tier2) via GridFTP cluster and Xrootd protocol and finally the writing and reading data operations on magnetic tape backend. One of the most important and essential point in order to get a reliable service is a control system that can warn if problems arise and which is able to perform automatic recovery operations in case of service interruptions or major failures. Moreover, during daily operations the configurations can change, i.e. if the GPFS cluster nodes roles can be modified and therefore the obsolete nodes must be removed from the control system production, and the new servers should be added to the ones that are already present. The manual management of all these changes is an operation that can be somewhat difficult in case of several changes, it can also take a long time and is easily subject to human error or misconfiguration. For these reasons we have developed a control system with the feature of self-configure itself if any change occurs. Currently, this system has been in production for about a year at the INFN-CNAF Tier1 with good results and hardly any major drawback. There are three major key points in this system. The first is a software configurator service (e.g. Quattor or Puppet) for the servers machines that we want to monitor with the control system; this service must ensure the presence of appropriate sensors and custom scripts on the nodes to check and should be able to install and update software packages on them. The second key element is a database containing information, according to a suitable format, on

We determine the critical behavior of a reactive model with many absorbing configurations. Monomers A and B land on the sites of a linear lattice and can react depending on the state of their nearest-neighbor sites. The probability of a reaction depends on temperature of the catalyst as well as on the energy coupling between pairs of nearest-neighbor monomers. We employ Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the moments of the order parameter of the model as a function of temperature. Some ratios between pairs of moments are independent of temperature and are in the same universality class of the contact process. We also find the dynamical critical exponents of the model and we show that they are in the directed percolation universality class whatever the values of temperature. PMID:21517455

Existing methodology for surface tension measurements based on drop shapes suffers from the shortcoming that it is not capable to function at very low surface tension if the liquid dispersion is opaque, such as therapeutic lung surfactants at clinically relevant concentrations. The novel configuration proposed here removes the two big restrictions, i.e., the film leakage problem that is encountered with such methods as the pulsating bubble surfactometer as well as the pendant drop arrangement, and the problem of the opaqueness of the liquid, as in the original captive bubble arrangement. A sharp knife edge is the key design feature in the constrained sessile drop that avoids film leakage at low surface tension. The use of the constrained sessile drop configuration in conjunction with axisymmetric drop shape analysis to measure surface tension allows complete automation of the setup. Dynamic studies with lung surfactant can be performed readily by changing the volume of a sessile drop, and thus the surface area, by means of a motor-driven syringe. To illustrate the validity of using this configuration, experiments were performed using an exogenous lung surfactant preparation, bovine lipid extract surfactant (BLES) at 5.0 mg/ml. A comparison of results obtained for BLES at low concentration between the constrained sessile drop and captive bubble arrangement shows excellent agreement between the two approaches. When the surface area of the BLES film (0.5 mg/ml) was compressed by about the same amount in both systems, the minimum surface tensions attained were identical within the 95% confidence limits. PMID:15064296

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) has recently studied several redirected scrubber discharge configurations in its full-scale continuous miner gallery for both dust and gas control when using an exhaust face ventilation system. Dust and gas measurements around the continuous mining machine in the laboratory showed that the conventional scrubber discharge directed outby the face with a 12.2-m (40-ft) exhaust curtain setback appeared to be one of the better configurations for controlling dust and gas. Redirecting all the air toward the face equally up both sides of the machine increased the dust and gas concentrations around the machine. When all of the air was redirected toward the face on the off-curtain side of the machine, gas accumulations tended to be reduced at the face, at the expense of increased dust levels in the return and on the curtain side of the mining machine. A 6.1-m (20-ft) exhaust curtain setback without the scrubber operating resulted in the lowest dust levels around the continuous mining machine, but this configuration resulted in some of the highest levels of dust in the return and gas on the off-curtain side of the mining face. Two field studies showed some similarities to the laboratory findings, with elevated dust levels at the rear corners of the continuous miner when all of the scrubber exhaust was redirected toward the face either up the off-tubing side or equally up both sides of the mining machine. PMID:26251566

In a previous work, Sims and Hagstrom ["Hylleraas-configuration-interaction study of the 1 1S ground state of neutral beryllium," Phys. Rev. A 83, 032518 (2011)] reported Hylleraas-configuration-interaction (Hy-CI) method variational calculations for the 1S ground state of neutral beryllium with an estimated accuracy of a tenth of a microhartree. In this work, the calculations have been extended to higher accuracy and, by simple scaling of the orbital exponents, to the entire Be 2 1S isoelectronic sequence. The best nonrelativistic energies for Be, B+, and C++ obtained are -14.6673 5649 269, -24.3488 8446 36, and -36.5348 5236 25 hartree, respectively. Except for Be, all computed nonrelativistic energies are superior to the known reference energies for these states.

In a previous work, Sims and Hagstrom [“Hylleraas-configuration-interaction study of the 1 {sup 1}S ground state of neutral beryllium,” Phys. Rev. A 83, 032518 (2011)] reported Hylleraas-configuration-interaction (Hy-CI) method variational calculations for the {sup 1}S ground state of neutral beryllium with an estimated accuracy of a tenth of a microhartree. In this work, the calculations have been extended to higher accuracy and, by simple scaling of the orbital exponents, to the entire Be 2 {sup 1}S isoelectronic sequence. The best nonrelativistic energies for Be, B{sup +}, and C{sup ++} obtained are −14.6673 5649 269, −24.3488 8446 36, and −36.5348 5236 25 hartree, respectively. Except for Be, all computed nonrelativistic energies are superior to the known reference energies for these states.

We study structure of energy spectrum of light hyprnucleus Λ6Heusing cluster α + Λ + n model. In particular, the spin doublet (1-,2-) of Λ6Heis of interest for the testing the spin dependence of hyperon-nucleon potentials. Experimental value for 1- ground state energy of Λ6Hehas been reported to be -0.17 MeV below the threshold Λ5He+ n. Our study is based on the configuration-space Faddeev equations for a system of three non-identical particles. The analytical continuation method in a coupling constant is applied for calculation of resonance parameters. The results of calculations for low-lying spectra of the system α + Λ + n are presented. Within our model, the α-n potential is constructed to reproduce the results of R-matrix analysis for α-n scattering data. This potential simulates the Pauli exception for αn in the s-state with repulsive core. We use phenomenological α- Λ potential and for the Λ-n interaction the s-wave potential simulating model NSC97f. We calculated energies of the low-lying 1-, 2-, 2+, 0- states. Obtained results are discussed and compared with other calculations. This work is supported by NSF CREST (HRD-0833184) and NASA (NNX09AV07A).

The potential energy surface for the pre-scission configurations of tri-nuclear systems formed in the spontaneous ternary fission of 252Cf is calculated. The fission channel 70Ni + 50Ca + 132Sn is chosen as one of the more probable channels of true ternary fission of 252Cf . A study of the collinear arrangement of the reaction products for true ternary fission is the aim of this work. The results are presented as a function of the relative distance R12 between the centres of mass of 70Ni and 132Sn and the distance from the centre of mass of 50Ca , which is perpendicular to R12. The results show that only for a particular range of the R12 values the collinear tripartion of the fissioning nucleus occurs.

The Boeing company conducted a flight test of a SATCOM system similar to the ARINC 741 configuration on a production model 747-400. A flight plan was specifically designed to test the system over a wide variety of satellite elevations and aircraft attitudes as well as over land and sea. Interface bit errors, signal quality and aircraft position and navigational inputs were all recorded as a function of time. Special aircraft maneuvers were performed to demonstrate the potential for shadowing by aircraft structures. Both a compass rose test and the flight test indicated that shadowing from the tail is insignificant for the 747-400. However, satellite elevation angles below the aircraft horizon during banking maneuvers were shown to have a significant deleterious effect on SATCOM communications.

The Boeing company conducted a flight test of a SATCOM system similar to the ARINC 741 configuration on a production model 747-400. A flight plan was specifically designed to test the system over a wide variety of satellite elevations and aircraft attitudes as well as over land and sea. Interface bit errors, signal quality and aircraft position and navigational inputs were all recorded as a function of time. Special aircraft maneuvers were performed to demonstrate the potential for shadowing by aircraft structures. Both a compass rose test and the flight test indicated that shadowing from the tail is insignificant for the 747-400. However, satellite elevation angles below the aircraft horizon during banking maneuvers were shown to have a significant deleterious effect on SATCOM communications.

Two families of supersymmetric configurations are considered. One is the 1/4 supersymmetric D1--D5 system with angular momentum, and the other is a family of pp-waves of type IIB string theory with some supersymmetry. In the first part of the thesis some configurations of the D1--D5 system are examined which give conical singularities in AdS 3 as their near horizon limit. It is shown that they can be made non-singular by adding angular momentum to the brane system. The smooth asymptotically flat solutions constructed this way are used to obtain global AdS 3 as the near horizon geometry. Using the relation of the D1--D5 system to the oscillating string, a large family of supergravity solutions is constructed which describe BPS excitations on AdS3 x S 3 with angular momentum on S3. These solutions take into account the full back reaction on the metric, and can be viewed as Kaluza-Klein monopole "supertubes", which are completely non-singular geometries. The different chiral primaries of the dual CFT are identified with these different supergravity solutions. This part is adapted from the papers [1], [2]. In its second part, a general class of supersymmetric pp-wave solutions of type IIB string theory is constructed, such that the superstring worldsheet action in light cone gauge is that of an interacting massive field theory. It is shown that when the light cone Lagrangian has (2.2) supersymmetry, one can find backgrounds that lead to arbitrary superpotentials on the worldsheet. Both flat and curved transverse spaces are considered. In particular, the background giving rise to the N = 2 sine Gordon theory on the worldsheet is analyzed. Massive mirror symmetry relates it to the deformed CP1 model (or sausage model) which seems to elude a purely supergravity target space interpretation. These are results which appeared in the paper [3].

This paper describes the design and implementation of a wireless neural telemetry system that enables new experimental paradigms, such as neural recordings during rodent navigation in large outdoor environments. RoSco, short for Rodent Scope, is a small lightweight user-configurable module suitable for digital wireless recording from freely behaving small animals. Due to the digital transmission technology, RoSco has advantages over most other wireless modules of noise immunity and online user-configurable settings. RoSco digitally transmits entire neural waveforms for 14 of 16 channels at 20 kHz with 8-bit encoding which are streamed to the PC as standard USB audio packets. Up to 31 RoSco wireless modules can coexist in the same environment on non-overlapping independent channels. The design has spatial diversity reception via two antennas, which makes wireless communication resilient to fading and obstacles. In comparison with most existing wireless systems, this system has online user-selectable independent gain control of each channel in 8 factors from 500 to 32,000 times, two selectable ground references from a subset of channels, selectable channel grounding to disable noisy electrodes, and selectable bandwidth suitable for action potentials (300 Hz-3 kHz) and low frequency field potentials (4 Hz-3 kHz). Indoor and outdoor recordings taken from freely behaving rodents are shown to be comparable to a commercial wired system in sorting for neural populations. The module has low input referred noise, battery life of 1.5 hours and transmission losses of 0.1% up to a range of 10 m. PMID:24587144

This paper describes the design and implementation of a wireless neural telemetry system that enables new experimental paradigms, such as neural recordings during rodent navigation in large outdoor environments. RoSco, short for Rodent Scope, is a small lightweight user-configurable module suitable for digital wireless recording from freely behaving small animals. Due to the digital transmission technology, RoSco has advantages over most other wireless modules of noise immunity and online user-configurable settings. RoSco digitally transmits entire neural waveforms for 14 of 16 channels at 20 kHz with 8-bit encoding which are streamed to the PC as standard USB audio packets. Up to 31 RoSco wireless modules can coexist in the same environment on non-overlapping independent channels. The design has spatial diversity reception via two antennas, which makes wireless communication resilient to fading and obstacles. In comparison with most existing wireless systems, this system has online user-selectable independent gain control of each channel in 8 factors from 500 to 32,000 times, two selectable ground references from a subset of channels, selectable channel grounding to disable noisy electrodes, and selectable bandwidth suitable for action potentials (300 Hz–3 kHz) and low frequency field potentials (4 Hz–3 kHz). Indoor and outdoor recordings taken from freely behaving rodents are shown to be comparable to a commercial wired system in sorting for neural populations. The module has low input referred noise, battery life of 1.5 hours and transmission losses of 0.1% up to a range of 10 m. PMID:24587144

Configuration comparisons and systems evaluation for the orbital radar mapping mission of the planet Venus are discussed. Designs are recommended which best satisfy the science objectives of the Venus radar mapping concept. Attention is given to the interaction and integration of those specific mission-systems recommendations with one another, and the final proposed designs are presented. The feasibility, cost, and scheduling of these configurations are evaluated against assumptions of reasonable state-of-the-art growth and space funding expectations.

We show that the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) of delocalized π-systems represents a worst-case scenario for Tamm-Dancoff approximated (TDA) linear response methods. We mainly consider density functional theory (TDA-DFT) variants together with range-separated hybrids, but the conclusions also apply for other functionals as well as the configuration interaction singles (CIS) approaches. We study the effect of the TDA for the computation of ECD spectra in some prototypical extended π-systems. The C76 fullerene, a chiral carbon nanotube fragment, and [11]helicene serve as model systems for inherently chiral, π-chromophores. Solving the full linear response problem is inevitable in order to obtain accurate ECD spectra for these systems. For the C76 fullerene and the nanotube fragment, TDA and CIS approximated methods yield spectra in the origin-independent velocity gauge formalism of incorrect sign which would lead to the assignment of the opposite (wrong) absolute configuration. As a counterexample, we study the ECD of an α-helix polypeptide chain. Here, the lowest-energy transitions are dominated by localized excitations within the individual peptide units, and TDA methods perform satisfactorily. The results may have far-reaching implications for simple semiempirical methods which often employ TDA and CIS for huge molecules. Our recently presented simplified time-dependent DFT approach proves to be an excellent low-cost linear response method which together with range-separated density functionals like ωB97X-D3 produces ECD spectra in very good agreement with experiment. PMID:25798823

A study was conducted to determine the potential reduction in fuel burned for BLI (boundary layer ingestion) inlets on a BWB (blended wing body) airplane employing AFC (active flow control). The BWB is a revolutionary type airplane configuration with engines on the aft upper surface where thick boundary layer offers the greatest opportunity for ram drag reduction. AFC is an emerging technology for boundary layer control. Several BLI inlet configurations were analyzed in the NASA-developed RANS Overflow CFD code. The study determined that, while large reductions in ram drag result from BLI, lower inlet pressure recovery produces engine performance penalties that largely offset this ram drag reduction. AFC could, however, enable a short BLI inlet that allows surface mounting of the engine which, when coupled with a short diffuser, would significantly reduce drag and weight for a potential 10% reduction in fuel burned. Continuing studies are therefore recommended to achieve this reduction in fuel burned considering the use of more modest amounts of BLI coupled with both AFC and PFC (Passive Flow Control) to produce a fail-operational system.

The ability to engineer synthetic systems in the biochemical context is constantly being improved and has a profound societal impact. Linear system design is one of the most pervasive methods applied in control tasks, and its biochemical realization has been proposed by Oishi and Klavins and advanced further in recent years. However, several technical issues remain unsolved. Specifically, the design process is not fully automated from specification at the transfer function level, systems once designed often lack dynamic adaptivity to environmental changes, matching rate constants of reactions is not always possible, and implementation may be approximative and greatly deviate from the specifications. Building upon the work of Oishi and Klavins, this paper overcomes these issues by introducing a design flow that transforms a transfer-function specification of a linear system into a set of chemical reactions, whose input-output response precisely conforms to the specification. This system is implementable using the DNA strand displacement technique. The underlying configurability is embedded into primitive components and template modules, and thus the entire system is adaptive. Simulation of DNA strand displacement implementation confirmed the feasibility and superiority of the proposed synthesis flow. PMID:26352855

The ability to engineer synthetic systems in the biochemical context is constantly being improved and has a profound societal impact. Linear system design is one of the most pervasive methods applied in control tasks, and its biochemical realization has been proposed by Oishi and Klavins and advanced further in recent years. However, several technical issues remain unsolved. Specifically, the design process is not fully automated from specification at the transfer function level, systems once designed often lack dynamic adaptivity to environmental changes, matching rate constants of reactions is not always possible, and implementation may be approximative and greatly deviate from the specifications. Building upon the work of Oishi and Klavins, this paper overcomes these issues by introducing a design flow that transforms a transfer-function specification of a linear system into a set of chemical reactions, whose input-output response precisely conforms to the specification. This system is implementable using the DNA strand displacement technique. The underlying configurability is embedded into primitive components and template modules, and thus the entire system is adaptive. Simulation of DNA strand displacement implementation confirmed the feasibility and superiority of the proposed synthesis flow. PMID:26352855

Entropy change is categorized in some prominent general chemistry textbooks as being either positional (configurational) or thermal. In those texts, the accompanying emphasis on the dispersal of matter—independent of energy considerations and thus in discord with kinetic molecular theory—is most troubling. This article shows that the variants of entropy can be treated from a unified viewpoint and argues that to decrease students' confusion about the nature of entropy change these variants of entropy should be merged. Molecular energy dispersal in space is implicit but unfortunately tacit in the cell models of statistical mechanics that develop the configurational entropy change in gas expansion, fluids mixing, or the addition of a non-volatile solute to a solvent. Two factors are necessary for entropy change in chemistry. An increase in thermodynamic entropy is enabled in a process by the motional energy of molecules (that, in chemical reactions, can arise from the energy released from a bond energy change). However, entropy increase is only actualized if the process results in a larger number of arrangements for the system's energy, that is, a final state that involves the most probable distribution for that energy under the new constraints. Positional entropy should be eliminated from general chemistry instruction and, especially benefiting "concrete minded" students, it should be replaced by emphasis on the motional energy of molecules as enabling entropy change.

During the 1920s and 1930s, millions of wind energysystems were used on farms and other locations far from utility lines. However, with passage of the Rural Electrification Act in 1939, cheap electricity was brought to rural areas. After that, the use of wind machines dramatically declined. Recently, the rapid rise in fuel prices has led to a…

The contemporary industrial metabolism is not sustainable. Critical problems arise at both the input and the output side of the complex: Although affordable fossil fuels and mineral resources are declining, the waste products of the current production and consumption schemes (especially CO(2) emissions, particulate air pollution, and radioactive residua) cause increasing environmental and social costs. Most challenges are associated with the incumbent energy economy that is unlikely to subsist. However, the crucial question is whether a swift transition to its sustainable alternative, based on renewable sources, can be achieved. The answer requires a deep analysis of the structural conditions responsible for the rigidity of the fossil-nuclear energysystem. We argue that the resilience of the fossil-nuclear energysystem results mainly from a dynamic lock-in pattern known in operations research as the "Success to the Successful" mode. The present way of generating, distributing, and consuming energy--the largest business on Earth--expands through a combination of factors such as the longevity of pertinent infrastructure, the information technology revolution, the growth of the global population, and even the recent financial crises: Renewable-energy industries evidently suffer more than the conventional-energy industries under recession conditions. Our study tries to elucidate the archetypical traits of the lock-in pattern and to assess the respective importance of the factors involved. In particular, we identify modern corporate law as a crucial system element that thus far has been largely ignored. Our analysis indicates that the rigidity of the existing energy economy would be reduced considerably by the assignment of unlimited liabilities to the shareholders. PMID:23297208

Compaction of upper soil layers by intensive sheep grazing has been connected with increased local flood risk in silvopastoral systems. A 12 week field study was conducted at the Henfaes Research Station near Bangor, Wales to compare two silvopastoral configurations, trees planted in fenced off clumps and trees planted evenly spaced, in terms of canopy throughfall, soil water infiltration and soil bulk density. The study's aim was to characterize the potential of these tree planting configurations to reduce local flood risk. The study site (Henfaes) was established in 1992 on 14 ha of agricultural land and is part of the Silvopastoral National Network Experiment sites that have been set up across the UK to examine the potential of silvopasture and agroforestry on UK farms. Automated throughfall gauges were installed in each silvopastoral treatment along with a similarly designed control gauge located in the grazed control pasture. Soil water infiltration and bulk density were measured 20 times in a stratified random design for each treatment and the control. Soil infiltration capacity in the clumped configuration was significantly higher than in the even spaced configuration and control pasture. The clumped configuration had mean infiltration capacity 504% greater than the control pasture and 454% greater than the even spaced configuration. Canopy interception was higher in the clumped trees than in the evenly spaced trees. Average canopy interception was 34% in the clumped treatment and 28% in the evenly spaced treatment. Soil bulk density was lower in the clumped configuration than in the control pasture and evenly spaced configuration. Results suggest that in silvopastoral systems the clumped tree configuration is more likely to reduce local flood risk than the evenly spaced tree configuration due to enhanced infiltration and increased canopy interception.

Using differing computer platforms and audio output devices to deliver audio stimuli often introduces (1) substantial variability across labs and (2) variable time between the intended and actual sound delivery (the sound onset latency). Fast, accurate audio onset latencies are particularly important when audio stimuli need to be delivered precisely as part of studies that depend on accurate timing (e.g., electroencephalographic, event-related potential, or multimodal studies), or in multisite studies in which standardization and strict control over the computer platforms used is not feasible. This research describes the variability introduced by using differing configurations and introduces a novel approach to minimizing audio sound latency and variability. A stimulus presentation and latency assessment approach is presented using E-Prime and Chronos (a new multifunction, USB-based data presentation and collection device). The present approach reliably delivers audio stimuli with low latencies that vary by ≤1 ms, independent of hardware and Windows operating system (OS)/driver combinations. The Chronos audio subsystem adopts a buffering, aborting, querying, and remixing approach to the delivery of audio, to achieve a consistent 1-ms sound onset latency for single-sound delivery, and precise delivery of multiple sounds that achieves standard deviations of 1/10th of a millisecond without the use of advanced scripting. Chronos's sound onset latencies are small, reliable, and consistent across systems. Testing of standard audio delivery devices and configurations highlights the need for careful attention to consistency between labs, experiments, and multiple study sites in their hardware choices, OS selections, and adoption of audio delivery systems designed to sidestep the audio latency variability issue. PMID:26170050

The proliferation of small Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) in the past decade has been driven, in part, by the diverse applications that various industries have found for these platforms. Originally, these applications were predominately military in nature but now include law enforcement/security, environmental monitoring/remote sensing, agricultural surveying, movie making and others. Many of these require sensors/payloads such as cameras, laser pointers/ illuminators/rangefinders and other systems that must be pointed and/or stabilized and therefore require a precision miniature gimbal or other means to control their line-of-sight (LOS). Until now, these markets have been served by traditional/larger gimbals; however, the latest class of small UAVs demands much smaller gimbals while maintaining high-performance. The limited size and weight of these gimbaled devices result in design challenges unique to the small-gimbal design field. In the past five years, Ascendant Engineering Solutions has engaged in designing, analyzing and building several small-gimbal systems to meet these challenges and has undertaken a number of trade studies to investigate techniques to achieve optimal performance within the inherent limitations mentioned above. These have included investigating various gimbal configurations, feedback sensors such as gyros, IMUs and encoders, drive train configurations, control system techniques, packaging and interconnect, as well as technology such as fast-steering mirrors and image-stabilization algorithms. This paper summarizes the results of these trade studies, attempts to identify inherent trends and limitations in the various design approaches and techniques, and discusses some practical issues such as test and verification.

SatCon Technology Corporation developed the drive train for use in the Chrysler Corporation's Patriot Mark II, which includes the Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) system. In Chrysler's experimental hybrid- electric car, the hybrid drive train uses an advanced turboalternator that generates electricity by burning a fuel; a powerful, compact electric motor; and a FES that eliminates the need for conventional batteries. The FES system incorporates technology SatCon developed in more than 30 projects with seven NASA centers, mostly for FES systems for spacecraft attitude control and momentum recovery. SatCon will continue to develop the technology with Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

The solar total energysystem (STES) was to provide 50% of the total electrical and thermal energy requirements of the 25,000 sq ft Bleyle of America knitwear plant located at the Shenandoah Site. The system will provide 400 kilowatts electrical and 3 megawatts of thermal energy. The STES has a classical, cascaded total energysystemconfiguration. It utilizes one hundred twenty (120), parabolic dish collectors, high temperature (750 F) trickle oil thermal energy storage and a steam turbine generator. The electrical load shaving system was designed for interconnected operation with the Georgia Power system and for operation in a stand alone mode.

The solar total energysystem (STES) was to provide 50% of the total electrical and thermal energy requirements of the 25,000 sq ft Bleyle of America knitwear plant located at the Shenandoah Site. The system will provide 400 kilowatts electrical and 3 megawatts of thermal energy. The STES has a classical, cascaded total energysystemconfiguration. It utilizes one hundred twenty (120), parabolic dish collectors, high temperature (750 F) trickle oil thermal energy storage and a steam turbine generator. The electrical load shaving system was designed for interconnected operation with the Georgia Power system and for operation in a stand alone mode.

Automatic Train Control (ATC) in the railway signalling system is required high safety, high availability, reduction of unit, energy saving and cost reduction. This paper described the resources communization redundancy of the ATC system that shared the redundant units in preparation for common use units in order to accommodate with this issue by keeping safety and availability in the same level of conventional ATC. It was evaluated on N+2 redundant system which established 2 spares for the common use system N piece in transmission division. It was done the safety evaluation of the N+2 redundant system by way of hazard analysis of FTA method and safety issue was confirmed by FMEA. The new redundant system concludes that 19% of downsizing and 36% of the energy saving are surely possible.

A power system for connecting a variable voltage power source, such as a power controller, with a plurality of energy storage devices, at least two of which have a different initial voltage than the output voltage of the variable voltage power source. The power system includes a controller that increases the output voltage of the variable voltage power source. When such output voltage is substantially equal to the initial voltage of a first one of the energy storage devices, the controller sends a signal that causes a switch to connect the variable voltage power source with the first one of the energy storage devices. The controller then causes the output voltage of the variable voltage power source to continue increasing. When the output voltage is substantially equal to the initial voltage of a second one of the energy storage devices, the controller sends a signal that causes a switch to connect the variable voltage power source with the second one of the energy storage devices.

The Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) is currently undergoing modifications and refurbishment and is currently undergoing modifications and refurbishment and is manifested to refly on the Second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission scheduled for launch in September 1995. The CGF was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) programs at NASA Headquarters. The refurbishment and reflight program is being managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. Funding and program support for the CGF project is provided to MSFC by the office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications at NASA Headquarters. This paper presents an overview of the CGF systemconfiguration for the USML-2 mission, and provides a brief description of the planned on-orbit experiment operation.

The contemporary industrial metabolism is not sustainable. Critical problems arise at both the input and the output side of the complex: Although affordable fossil fuels and mineral resources are declining, the waste products of the current production and consumption schemes (especially CO2 emissions, particulate air pollution, and radioactive residua) cause increasing environmental and social costs. Most challenges are associated with the incumbent energy economy that is unlikely to subsist. However, the crucial question is whether a swift transition to its sustainable alternative, based on renewable sources, can be achieved. The answer requires a deep analysis of the structural conditions responsible for the rigidity of the fossil-nuclear energysystem. We argue that the resilience of the fossil-nuclear energysystem results mainly from a dynamic lock-in pattern known in operations research as the “Success to the Successful” mode. The present way of generating, distributing, and consuming energy—the largest business on Earth—expands through a combination of factors such as the longevity of pertinent infrastructure, the information technology revolution, the growth of the global population, and even the recent financial crises: Renewable-energy industries evidently suffer more than the conventional-energy industries under recession conditions. Our study tries to elucidate the archetypical traits of the lock-in pattern and to assess the respective importance of the factors involved. In particular, we identify modern corporate law as a crucial system element that thus far has been largely ignored. Our analysis indicates that the rigidity of the existing energy economy would be reduced considerably by the assignment of unlimited liabilities to the shareholders. PMID:23297208

We report the development of a new multi-frequency electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system called the KHU Mark2. It is descended from the KHU Mark1 in terms of technical details such as digital waveform generation, Howland current source with multiple generalized impedance converters and digital phase-sensitive demodulators. New features include flexible electrode configurations to accommodate application-specific requirements, multiple independent current sources and voltmeters for fully parallel operations, improved data acquisition speeds for faster frame rates and compact mechanical design. Given an electrode configuration, we can design an analog backplane in such a way that both current injections and voltage measurements can be done without using any switch. The KHU Mark2 is based on an impedance measurement module (IMM) comprising a current source and a voltmeter. Using multiple IMMs, we can construct a multi-channel system with 16, 32 or 64 channels, for example. Adopting a pipeline structure, it has the maximum data acquisition speed of 100 scans s(-1) with the potential to detect fast physiological changes during respiration and cardiac activity. Measuring both in-phase and quadrature components of trans-impedances at multiple frequencies simultaneously, the KHU Mark2 is apt at spectroscopic EIT imaging. In this paper, we describe its design, construction, calibration and performance evaluation. It has about 84 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 0.5% reciprocity error. Time-difference images of an admittivity phantom are presented showing spectroscopic admittivity images. Future application studies using the KHU Mark2 are briefly discussed. PMID:21646706

Millimeter-wave (mmW) imaging is presently a subject of considerable interest due to the ability of mmW radiation to penetrate obscurants while concurrently exhibiting low atmospheric absorption loss in particular segments of the spectrum, including near 35 and 94 GHz. As a result, mmW imaging affords an opportunity to see through certain levels of fog, rain, cloud cover, dust, and blowing sand, providing for situational awareness where visible and infrared detectors are unable to perform. On the other hand, due to the relatively long wavelength of the radiation, achieving sufficient resolution entails large aperture sizes, which furthermore leads to volumetric scaling of the imaging platform when using conventional refractive optics. Alternatively, distributed aperture imaging can achieve comparable resolution in an essentially two-dimensional form factor by use of a number of smaller subapertures through which the image is interferometrically synthesized. The novelty of our approach lies in the optical upconversion of the mmW radiation as sidebands on carrier laser beams using electro-optic modulators. These sidebands are subsequently stripped from the carrier using narrow passband optical filters and a spatial Fourier transform is performed by means of a simple lens to synthesize the image, which is then viewed using a standard near-infrared focal plane array (FPA). Consequently, the optical configuration of the back-end processor represents a major design concern for the imaging system. As such, in this paper we discuss the optical configuration along with some of the design challenges and present preliminary imaging data validating the system performance.

Background A number of conditions can alter a person's fingernail configuration. The ratio between fingernail width and length (W/L) is an important aesthetic criterion, and some underlying diseases can alter the size of the fingernail. Fingernail curvature can be altered by systemic disorders or disorders of the fingernail itself. Although the shape and curvature of the fingernail can provide diagnostic clues for various diseases, few studies have precisely characterized normal fingernail configuration. Methods We measured the W/L ratio of the fingernail, transverse fingernail curvature, hand length, hand breadth, and distal interphalangeal joint width in 300 volunteers with healthy fingernails. We also investigated whether age, sex, height, and handedness influenced the fingernail W/L ratio and transverse fingernail curvature. Results In women, fingernail W/L ratios were similar across all five fingers, and were lower than those in men. The highest value of transverse fingernail curvature was found in the thumb, followed by the index, middle, ring, and little fingers. Handedness and aging influenced transverse fingernail curvature, but not the fingernail W/L ratio. Fingernails were flatter on the dominant hand than on the non-dominant hand. The radius of transverse fingernail curvature increased with age, indicating that fingernails tended to flatten with age. Conclusions Our quantitative data on fingernail configuration can be used as a reference range for diagnosing various diseases and deformities of the fingernail, and for performing reconstructive or aesthetic fingernail surgery. PMID:26618124

Possible configurations of the planetary systems of the binary stars α Cen A-BandEZAqr A-C are analyzed. The P-type orbits—circumbinary ones, i.e., the orbits around both stars of the binary, are studied. The choice of these systems is dictated by the fact that α Cen is closest to us in the Galaxy, while EZ Aqr is the closest system whose circumbinary planets, as it turns out, may reside in the "habitability zone." The analysis has been performed within the framework of the planar restricted three-body problem. The stability diagrams of circumbinary motion have been constructed: on representative sets of initial data (in the pericentric distance-eccentricity plane), we have computed the Lyapunov spectra of planetary motion and identified the domains of regular and chaotic motion through their statistical analysis. Based on present views of the dynamics and architecture of circumbinary planetary systems, we have determined the most probable planetary orbits to be at the centers of the main resonance cells, at the boundary of the dynamical chaos domain around the parent binary star, which allows the semimajor axes of the orbits to be predicted. In the case of EZ Aqr, the orbit of the circumbinary planet is near the habitability zone and, given that the boundary of this zone is uncertain, may belong to it.

This paper describes Livingstone, an implemented kernel for a self-reconfiguring autonomous system, that is reactive and uses component-based declarative models. The paper presents a formal characterization of the representation formalism used in Livingstone, and reports on our experience with the implementation in a variety of domains. Livingstone's representation formalism achieves broad coverage of hybrid software/hardware systems by coupling the concurrent transition system models underlying concurrent reactive languages with the discrete qualitative representations developed in model-based reasoning. We achieve a reactive system that performs significant deductions in the sense/response loop by drawing on our past experience at building fast prepositional conflict-based algorithms for model-based diagnosis, and by framing a model-based configuration manager as a prepositional, conflict-based feedback controller that generates focused, optimal responses. Livingstone automates all these tasks using a single model and a single core deductive engine, thus making significant progress towards achieving a central goal of model-based reasoning. Livingstone, together with the HSTS planning and scheduling engine and the RAPS executive, has been selected as the core autonomy architecture for Deep Space One, the first spacecraft for NASA's New Millennium program.

Energy efficiency is the most important factor in the design of wireless modem LSIs for mobile handset systems. We have developed an energy-efficient SIMD DSP for LTE-A modem LSIs. Our DSP has mainly two hardware features in order to reduce energy consumption. The first one is multiple VLIW configurations to minimize accesses to instruction memories. The second one is an advanced memory access unit to realize complex memory accesses required for wireless baseband processing. With these features, performance of our DSP is about 1.7 times faster than a base DSP on average for standard LTE-A Libraries. Our DSP achieves about 20% improvement in energy efficiency compared to a base DSP for LTE-A modem LSIs.

The present invention includes systemsconfigured to distribute a telephone call, communication systems, communication methods and methods of routing a telephone call to a customer service representative. In one embodiment of the invention, a systemconfigured to distribute a telephone call within a network includes a distributor adapted to connect with a telephone system, the distributor being configured to connect a telephone call using the telephone system and output the telephone call and associated data of the telephone call; and a plurality of customer service representative terminals connected with the distributor and a selected customer service representative terminal being configured to receive the telephone call and the associated data, the distributor and the selected customer service representative terminal being configured to synchronize, application of the telephone call and associated data from the distributor to the selected customer service representative terminal.

A new photosynthetic antenna-reaction-center model compound composed of covalently linked BF2 -chelated dipyrromethene (BODIPY), BF2 -chelated azadipyrromethene (azaBODIPY), and fullerene (C60 ), in a "V-configuration", has been newly synthesized and characterized by using a multistep synthetic procedure. Optical absorbance and steady-state fluorescence, computational, and electrochemical studies were systematically performed in nonpolar, toluene, and polar, benzonitrile, solvents to establish the molecular integrity of the triad and to construct an energy-level diagram revealing different photochemical events. The geometry obtained by B3LYP/6-31G* calculations revealed the anticipated V-configuration of the BODIPY-azaBODIPY-C60 triad. The location of the frontier orbitals in the triad tracked the site of electron transfer determined from electrochemical studies. The different photochemical events originated from (1) BODIPY* were realized from the energy-level diagram. Accordingly, (1) BODIPY* resulted in competitive ultrafast energy transfer to produce BODIPY-(1) azaBODIPY*-C60 and electron transfer to produce BODIPY(.) (+) -azaBODIPY-C60 (.) (-) as major photochemical events. The charge-separated state persisted for few nanoseconds prior populating (3) C60 *, which in turn revealed an unusual triplet-triplet energy transfer to produce (3) azaBODIPY* prior returning to the ground state. These findings delineate the importance of multimodular systems in energy harvesting, and more importantly, their utility in building multifunction performing optoelectronic devices. PMID:25522294

This document describes the configuration process, choices and conventions used during the Micon DCS configuration activities, and issues involved in making changes to the configuration. Includes the master listings of the Tag definitions, which should be revised to authorize any changes. Revision 3 provides additional information on the software used to provide communications with the W-320 project and incorporates minor changes to ensure the document alarm setpoint priorities correctly match operational expectations.

The wind energy conversion system includes a wind machine having a propeller connected to a generator of electric power, the propeller rotating the generator in response to force of an incident wind. The generator converts the power of the wind to electric power for use by an electric load. Circuitry for varying the duty factor of the generator output power is connected between the generator and the load to thereby alter a loading of the generator and the propeller by the electric load. Wind speed is sensed electro-optically to provide data of wind speed upwind of the propeller, to thereby permit tip speed ratio circuitry to operate the power control circuitry and thereby optimize the tip speed ratio by varying the loading of the propeller. Accordingly, the efficiency of the wind energy conversion system is maximized.

For several years, researchers at Princeton University`s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies have carried out technical and economic assessments of hydrogen energysystems. Initially, we focussed on the long term potential of renewable hydrogen. More recently we have explored how a transition to renewable hydrogen might begin. The goal of our current work is to identify promising strategies leading from near term hydrogen markets and technologies toward eventual large scale use of renewable hydrogen as an energy carrier. Our approach has been to assess the entire hydrogen energysystem from production through end-use considering technical performance, economics, infrastructure and environmental issues. This work is part of the systems analysis activity of the DOE Hydrogen Program. In this paper we first summarize the results of three tasks which were completed during the past year under NREL Contract No. XR-11265-2: in Task 1, we carried out assessments of near term options for supplying hydrogen transportation fuel from natural gas; in Task 2, we assessed the feasibility of using the existing natural gas system with hydrogen and hydrogen blends; and in Task 3, we carried out a study of PEM fuel cells for residential cogeneration applications, a market which might have less stringent cost requirements than transportation. We then give preliminary results for two other tasks which are ongoing under DOE Contract No. DE-FG04-94AL85803: In Task 1 we are assessing the technical options for low cost small scale production of hydrogen from natural gas, considering (a) steam reforming, (b) partial oxidation and (c) autothermal reforming, and in Task 2 we are assessing potential markets for hydrogen in Southern California.

This slide presentation reviews the JSC EnergySystems Divisions work in propulsion. Specific work in LO2/CH4 propulsion, cryogenic propulsion, low thrust propulsion for Free Flyer, robotic and Extra Vehicular Activities, and work on the Morpheus terrestrial free flyer test bed is reviewed. The back-up slides contain a chart with comparisons of LO2/LCH4 with other propellants, and reviewing the advantages especially for spacecraft propulsion.

The Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) Systems and Applications Group provides decision support services to help industry and government reach sound policy and planning decisions. They identify critical factors that affect the development and commercialization of energysystems. The multidisciplinary IGT team provides economic and financial analyses, technology assessments, feasibility studies, market evaluations, policy analyses, and impact assessments. Their information can be used to plan for diversification, operations, research and development, investment, options identification, and market strategies. The authors cite sample analyses and summarize experience in such areas as pipeline cost estimation. 3 figures, 2 tables.

Our paper presents an analysis of various CO2 transcritical and cascade/secondary loop refrigeration systems that are becoming popular in supermarket applications with the objective of optimizing the operating parameters of these systems. In addition, the performance of selected CO2-based refrigeration systems is compared to the baseline R404A multiplex direct expansion system using bin analyses in the eight climate zones of the United States. Moreover, for the refrigeration systems investigated, it was found that the Transcritical Booster System with Bypass Compressor (TBS-BC) had the lowest energy consumption for ambient temperatures (Tamb) less than 8 °C, and for higher ambient temperatures themore » R404A direct expansion system was found to have the lowest energy consumption. Finally, the TBS-BC performs equivalent to or better than the R404A direct expansion system in the northern two-thirds of the US. For the southern portion of the US, the R404A multiplex DX system performs better than CO2 systems.« less

Our paper presents an analysis of various CO2 transcritical and cascade/secondary loop refrigeration systems that are becoming popular in supermarket applications with the objective of optimizing the operating parameters of these systems. In addition, the performance of selected CO2-based refrigeration systems is compared to the baseline R404A multiplex direct expansion system using bin analyses in the eight climate zones of the United States. Moreover, for the refrigeration systems investigated, it was found that the Transcritical Booster System with Bypass Compressor (TBS-BC) had the lowest energy consumption for ambient temperatures (Tamb) less than 8 °C, and for higher ambient temperatures the R404A direct expansion system was found to have the lowest energy consumption. Finally, the TBS-BC performs equivalent to or better than the R404A direct expansion system in the northern two-thirds of the US. For the southern portion of the US, the R404A multiplex DX system performs better than CO2systems.

Forced flow through channels connected by sharp bends is frequently encountered in various rocket and gas turbine engines. For example, the transfer ducts, the coolant channels surround the combustion chamber, the internal cooling passage in a blade or vane, the flow path in the fuel element of a nuclear rocket engine, the flow around a pressure relieve valve piston, and the recirculated base flow of multiple engine clustered nozzles. Transport phenomena involved in such a flow passage are complex and considered to be very different from those of conventional turning flow with relatively mild radii of curvature. While previous research pertaining to this subject has been focused primarily on the experimental heat transfer, very little analytical work is directed to understanding the flowfield and energy transport in the passage. Therefore, the primary goal of this paper is to benchmark the predicted wall heat fluxes using a state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) formulation against those of measurement for a rectangular turn duct. Other secondary goals include studying the effects of turning configurations, e.g., the semi-circular turn, and the rounded-corner turn, and the effect of system rotation. The computed heat fluxes for the rectangular turn duct compared favorably with those of the experimental data. The results show that the flow pattern, pressure drop, and heat transfer characteristics are different among the three turning configurations, and are substantially different with system rotation. Also demonstrated in this work is that the present computational approach is quite effective and efficient and will be suitable for flow and thermal modeling in rocket and turbine engine applications.

Forced flow through channels connected by sharp bends is frequently encountered in various rocket and gas turbine engines. For example, the transfer ducts, the coolant channels surround the combustion chamber, the internal cooling passage in a blade or vane, the flow path in the fuel element of a nuclear rocket engine, the flow around a pressure relieve valve piston, and the recirculated base flow of multiple engine clustered nozzles. Transport phenomena involved in such a flow passage are complex and considered to be very different from those of conventional turning flow with relatively mild radii of curvature. While previous research pertaining to this subject has been focused primarily on the experimental heat transfer, very little analytical work is directed to understanding the flowfield and energy transport in the passage. Therefore, the primary goal of this paper is to benchmark the predicted wall heat fluxes using a state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) formulation against those of measurement for a rectangular turn duct. Other secondary goals include studying the effects of turning configurations, e.g., the semi-circular turn, and the rounded-corner turn, and the effect of system rotation. The computed heat fluxes for the rectangular turn duct compared favorably with those of the experimental data. The results show that the flow pattern, pressure drop, and heat transfer characteristics are different among the three turning configurations, and are substantially different with system rotation. Also demonstrated in this work is that the present computational approach is quite effective and efficient and will be suitable for flow and thermal modeling in rocket and turbine engine applications.

In the C-2 field-reversed configuration (FRC) experiment, tangential neutral beam injection (NBI), coupled with electrically-biased plasma guns at the plasma ends and advanced surface conditioning, led to dramatic reductions in turbulence-driven losses. Under such conditions, highly reproducible, macroscopically stable, hot FRCs with a significant fast-ion population, total plasma temperature of ~ 1 keV and record lifetimes were achieved. To further improve the FRC sustainment and provide a better coupling with beams, the C-2 device has been upgraded with a new NBI system, which can deliver up to a total of 10 MW of hydrogen beam power (15 keV, 8 ms pulse), by far the largest ever used in compact toroid plasma experiments. The NBI system consists of six positive-ion based injectors featuring flexible, modular design. This presentation will provide an overview of the C-2U NBI system, including: 1) NBI test facility, beam characterization, and acceptance tests, 2) integration with the machine and operating experience, 3) improvements in plasma performance with increased beam power.

The configuration management architecture presented in this Configuration Management Plan is based on the functional model established by DOE-STD-1073-93, ``Guide for Operational Configuration Management Program.`` The DOE Standard defines the configuration management program by the five basic program elements of ``program management,`` ``design requirements,`` ``document control,`` ``change control,`` and ``assessments,`` and the two adjunct recovery programs of ``design reconstitution,`` and ``material condition and aging management.`` The CM model of five elements and two adjunct programs strengthen the necessary technical and administrative control to establish and maintain a consistent technical relationship among the requirements, physical configuration, and documentation. Although the DOE Standard was originally developed for the operational phase of nuclear facilities, this plan has the flexibility to be adapted and applied to all life-cycle phases of both nuclear and non-nuclear facilities. The configuration management criteria presented in this plan endorses the DOE Standard and has been tailored specifically to address the technical relationship of requirements, physical configuration, and documentation during the full life cycle of the Waste Tank Farms and 242-A Evaporator of Tank Waste Remediation System.

The U.S. Department of Energy's EnergySystems Integration Facility (ESIF) is located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the right tool, at the right time... a first-of-its-kind facility that addresses the challenges of large-scale integration of clean energy technologies into the energysystems that power the nation.

The U.S. Department of Energy's EnergySystems Integration Facility (ESIF) is located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the right tool, at the right time... a first-of-its-kind facility that addresses the challenges of large-scale integration of clean energy technologies into the energysystems that power the nation.

Coronene-doped helium clusters have been studied by means of classical and quantum mechanical (QM) methods using a recently developed He–C{sub 24}H{sub 12} global potential based on the use of optimized atom-bond improved Lennard-Jones functions. Equilibrium energies and geometries at global and local minima for systems with up to 69 He atoms were calculated by means of an evolutive algorithm and a basin-hopping approach and compared with results from path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) calculations at 2 K. A detailed analysis performed for the smallest sizes shows that the precise localization of the He atoms forming the first solvation layer over the molecular substrate is affected by differences between relative potential minima. The comparison of the PIMC results with the predictions from the classical approaches and with diffusion Monte Carlo results allows to examine the importance of both the QM and thermal effects.

Coronene-doped helium clusters have been studied by means of classical and quantum mechanical (QM) methods using a recently developed He-C24H12 global potential based on the use of optimized atom-bond improved Lennard-Jones functions. Equilibrium energies and geometries at global and local minima for systems with up to 69 He atoms were calculated by means of an evolutive algorithm and a basin-hopping approach and compared with results from path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) calculations at 2 K. A detailed analysis performed for the smallest sizes shows that the precise localization of the He atoms forming the first solvation layer over the molecular substrate is affected by differences between relative potential minima. The comparison of the PIMC results with the predictions from the classical approaches and with diffusion Monte Carlo results allows to examine the importance of both the QM and thermal effects. PMID:26671374

Results of experiments on the formation of a compact toroidal magnetic configuration at the Compact Toroid Challenge setup are presented. The experiments were primarily aimed at studying particular formation stages. Two series of experiments, with and without an auxiliary capacitor bank, were conducted. The magnetic field was measured, its time evolution and spatial distribution over the chamber volume were determined, and its influence on the formation regimes was investigated.

Quantum chemistry has become one of the most reliable tools for characterizing the thermochemical underpinnings of reactions, such as bond dissociation energies (BDEs). The accurate prediction of these particular properties (BDEs) are challenging for ab initio methods based on perturbative corrections or coupled cluster expansions of the single-determinant Hartree-Fock wave function: the processes of bond breaking and forming are inherently multi-configurational and require an accurate description of non-dynamical electron correlation. To this end, we present a systematic ab initio approach for computing BDEs that is based on three components: (1) multi-reference single and double excitation configuration interaction (MRSDCI) for the electronic energies; (2) a two-parameter scheme for extrapolating MRSDCI energies to the complete basis set limit; and (3) DFT-B3LYP calculations of minimumenergy structures and vibrational frequencies to account for zero point energy and thermal corrections. We validated our methodology against a set of reliable experimental BDE values of C*C and C*H bonds of hydrocarbons. The goal of chemical accuracy is achieved, on average, without applying any empirical corrections to the MRSDCI electronic energies. We then use this composite scheme to make predictions of BDEs in a large number of hydrocarbon molecules for which there are no experimental data, so as to provide needed thermochemical estimates for fuel molecules.

EnergySystems Economic Analysis (ESEA) program is flexible analytical tool for rank ordering of alternative energysystems. Basic ESEA approach derives an estimate of those costs incurred as result of purchasing, installing and operating an energysystem. These costs, suitably aggregated into yearly costs over lifetime of system, are divided by expected yearly energy output to determine busbar energy costs. ESEA, developed in 1979, is written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution.

Neuromorphic hardware offers an electronic substrate for the realization of asynchronous event-based sensory-motor systems and large-scale spiking neural network architectures. In order to characterize these systems, configure them, and carry out modeling experiments, it is often necessary to interface them to workstations. The software used for this purpose typically consists of a large monolithic block of code which is highly specific to the hardware setup used. While this approach can lead to highly integrated hardware/software systems, it hampers the development of modular and reconfigurable infrastructures thus preventing a rapid evolution of such systems. To alleviate this problem, we propose PyNCS, an open-source front-end for the definition of neural network models that is interfaced to the hardware through a set of Python Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The design of PyNCS promotes modularity, portability and expandability and separates implementation from hardware description. The high-level front-end that comes with PyNCS includes tools to define neural network models as well as to create, monitor and analyze spiking data. Here we report the design philosophy behind the PyNCS framework and describe its implementation. We demonstrate its functionality with two representative case studies, one using an event-based neuromorphic vision sensor, and one using a set of multi-neuron devices for carrying out a cognitive decision-making task involving state-dependent computation. PyNCS, already applicable to a wide range of existing spike-based neuromorphic setups, will accelerate the development of hybrid software/hardware neuromorphic systems, thanks to its code flexibility. The code is open-source and available online at https://github.com/inincs/pyNCS. PMID:25232314

Neuromorphic hardware offers an electronic substrate for the realization of asynchronous event-based sensory-motor systems and large-scale spiking neural network architectures. In order to characterize these systems, configure them, and carry out modeling experiments, it is often necessary to interface them to workstations. The software used for this purpose typically consists of a large monolithic block of code which is highly specific to the hardware setup used. While this approach can lead to highly integrated hardware/software systems, it hampers the development of modular and reconfigurable infrastructures thus preventing a rapid evolution of such systems. To alleviate this problem, we propose PyNCS, an open-source front-end for the definition of neural network models that is interfaced to the hardware through a set of Python Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The design of PyNCS promotes modularity, portability and expandability and separates implementation from hardware description. The high-level front-end that comes with PyNCS includes tools to define neural network models as well as to create, monitor and analyze spiking data. Here we report the design philosophy behind the PyNCS framework and describe its implementation. We demonstrate its functionality with two representative case studies, one using an event-based neuromorphic vision sensor, and one using a set of multi-neuron devices for carrying out a cognitive decision-making task involving state-dependent computation. PyNCS, already applicable to a wide range of existing spike-based neuromorphic setups, will accelerate the development of hybrid software/hardware neuromorphic systems, thanks to its code flexibility. The code is open-source and available online at https://github.com/inincs/pyNCS. PMID:25232314

The Tertiary limestone aquifer system of the southeastern United States is a thick sequence of carbonate rocks that vary in age and that are hydraulically connected in varying degrees. The aquifer system consists, in large part, of two major permeable zones separated by a less-permeable unit. A map is presented that shows the altitude and configuration of the base of the upper permeable zone of the system; and the age and lithology of the different low permeability materials that mark the base are delineated and briefly described. Several types of geological structures that affect the configuration of the base of the upper permeable zone may be readily recognized. (USGS)

The Advanced Manned Launch System is a proposed near-term technology, two-stage, fully reusable launch system that consists of an unmanned glide-back booster and a manned orbiter. An orbiter model that featured a large fuselage and an aft delta wing with tip fins was tested in the Langley 7- by 10-Foot High-Speed Tunnel. A crew cabin, large payload fairing, and crew access tunnel were mounted on the upper body. The results of the investigation indicated that the configuration was longitudinally stable to an angle of attack of about 6 deg about a center-of-gravity position of 0.7 body length. The model had an untrimmed lift-drag ratio of 6.6, but could not be trimmed at positive lift. The orbiter model was also directionally unstable. The payload fairing was responsible for about half the instability. The tip-fin controllers, which are designed as active controls to produce artificial directional stability, were effective in producing yawing moment, but sizable adverse rolling moment occurred at angles of attack above 6 deg. Differential deflection of the elevon surfaces was effective in producing rolling moment with only small values of adverse yawing moment.

Radio on fiber (RoF) - distributed antenna system (DAS) over wavelength division multiplexing - passive optical network (WDM-PON) with multiple - input multiple - output (MIMO) has been proposed as a next generation radio access network (RAN). This system employs optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) over one WDM channel to multiplex and transmit various types of wireless interfaces such as 3.9G, Wireless LAN and WiMAX. A combination of star and bus topologies has employed to cover a wider service area. The optical transmission loss is caused notably at remote base stations (RBSs) quipped on a WDM bus link. The loss is relatively small, but at the RBS far from the center station (CS), the RBS suffers the large accumulated loss, so the reduction of cell size provides the increasing of the number of RBSs, causes the degradation of the SNR of RoF link. This paper addresses this trade-off problem, and considers the application to the actual service area by the channel capacity investigation of RoF-DAS over WDM-PON with computer simulation. Then, this paper focuses on the flexibility of RoF-DAS over WDM-PON, considers the adaptive wireless cell configuration according to population fluctuations of day and night, or densely populated areas and sparsely populated areas, respectively.

A 16 chord optical tomography system has been developed and implemented in the flux coil generated-field reversed configuration (FRC). The chords are arranged in two fans of eight, which cover ~35% of the vessel area at the midplane. Each illuminate separate photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) which are fitted with narrow band-pass filters. In this case, filters are centered at 434.8 nm to measure emission from singly ionized argon. PMT crosstalk is negligible. Background noise due to electron radiation and H(γ) line radiation is <10% of argon emission. The spatial resolution of the reconstruction is 1.5 cm. Argon is introduced using a puff valve and tube designed to impart the gas into the system as the FRC is forming. Reconstruction of experimental data results in time-dependent, 2D emissivity profiles of the impurity ions. Analysis of these data show radial, cross-field diffusion to be in the range of 10-10(3) m(2)∕s during FRC equilibrium. PMID:23127010

We examine a class of hybrid systems which we call Composite Hybrid Machines (CHM's) that consists of the concurrent (and partially synchronized) operation of Elementary Hybrid Machines (EHM's). Legal behavior, specified by a set of illegal configurations that the CHM may not enter, is to be achieved by the concurrent operation of the CHM with a suitably designed legal controller. In the present paper we focus on the problem of synthesizing a legal controller, whenever such a controller exists. More specifically, we address the problem of synthesizing the minimally restrictive legal controller. A controller is minimally restrictive if, when composed to operate concurrently with another legal controller, it will never interfere with the operation of the other controller and, therefore, can be composed to operate concurrently with any other controller that may be designed to achieve liveness specifications or optimality requirements without the need to reinvestigate or reverify legality of the composite controller. We confine our attention to a special class of CHM's where system dynamics is rate-limited and legal guards are conjunctions or disjunctions of atomic formulas in the dynamic variables (of the type x less than or equal to x(sub 0), or x greater than or equal to x(sub 0)). We present an algorithm for synthesis of the minimally restrictive legal controller. We demonstrate our approach by synthesizing a minimally restrictive controller for a steam boiler (the verification of which recently received a great deal of attention).

The software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) is an efficient metrology technology based on reflection deflectometry that uses only an LCD screen and a camera to measure surface slope. The surface slope is determined by triangulations using the coordinates of the display screen, camera and test mirror. We present our recent SCOTS test results concentrated on high dynamic range measurements of low order aberrations. The varying astigmatism in the 91 cm diameter aspheric deformable secondary mirror for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) was measured with SCOTS, requiring no null corrector. The SCOTS system was designed on axis with camera and screen aligned on the optical axis of the test mirror with the help of a 6 inch pellicle beam splitter. The on-axis design gives better control of the astigmatism in the test. The high dynamic range of slope provided a measurement of astigmatism with 0.2 μm rms accuracy in the presence of 231 μm peak-to-valley (PV) aspheric departure. The simplicity of the test allowed the measurements to be performed at multiple elevation angles.

The energy conversion system includes a photo-voltaic array for receiving solar radiation and converting such radiation to electrical energy. The photo-voltaic array is mounted on a stretched membrane that is held by a frame. Tracking means for orienting the photo-voltaic array in predetermined positions that provide optimal exposure to solar radiation cooperate with the frame. An enclosure formed of a radiation transmissible material includes an inside containment space that accommodates the photo-voltaic array on the stretched membrane, the frame and the tracking means, and forms a protective shield for all such components. The enclosure is preferably formed of a flexible inflatable material and maintains its preferred form, such as a dome, under the influence of a low air pressure furnished to the dome. Under this arrangement the energy conversion system is streamlined for minimizing wind resistance, sufficiently weathproof for providing protection against weather hazards such as hail, capable of using diffused light, lightweight for low-cost construction and operational with a minimal power draw.

The energy conversion system includes a photo-voltaic array for receiving solar radiation and converting such radiation to electrical energy. The photo-voltaic array is mounted on a stretched membrane that is held by a frame. Tracking means for orienting the photo-voltaic array in predetermined positions that provide optimal exposure to solar radiation cooperate with the frame. An enclosure formed of a radiation transmissible material includes an inside containment space that accommodates the photo-voltaic array on the stretched membrane, the frame and the tracking means, and forms a protective shield for all such components. The enclosure is preferably formed of a flexible inflatable material and maintains its preferred form, such as a dome, under the influence of a low air pressure furnished to the dome. Under this arrangement the energy conversion system is streamlined for minimizing wind resistance, sufficiently weatherproof for providing protection against weather hazards such as hail, capable of using diffused light, lightweight for low-cost construction, and operational with a minimal power draw.

This course in energy production systems is one of 15 courses in the Energy Technology Series developed for an Energy Conservation-and-Use Technology curriculum. Intended for use in two-year postsecondary technical institutions to prepare technicians for employment, the courses are also useful in industry for updating employees in…

The alternative separation of exchange and correlation energies proposed by Toulouse et al. [Theor. Chem. Acc. 114, 305 (2005)] is explored in the context of multi-configuration range-separated density-functional theory. The new decomposition of the short-range exchange-correlation energy relies on the auxiliary long-range interacting wavefunction rather than the Kohn-Sham (KS) determinant. The advantage, relative to the traditional KS decomposition, is that the wavefunction part of the energy is now computed with the regular (fully interacting) Hamiltonian. One potential drawback is that, because of double counting, the wavefunction used to compute the energy cannot be obtained by minimizing the energy expression with respect to the wavefunction parameters. The problem is overcome by using short-range optimized effective potentials (OEPs). The resulting combination of OEP techniques with wavefunction theory has been investigated in this work, at the Hartree-Fock (HF) and multi-configuration self-consistent-field (MCSCF) levels. In the HF case, an analytical expression for the energy gradient has been derived and implemented. Calculations have been performed within the short-range local density approximation on H2, N2, Li2, and H2O. Significant improvements in binding energies are obtained with the new decomposition of the short-range energy. The importance of optimizing the short-range OEP at the MCSCF level when static correlation becomes significant has also been demonstrated for H2, using a finite-difference gradient. The implementation of the analytical gradient for MCSCF wavefunctions is currently in progress.

The alternative separation of exchange and correlation energies proposed by Toulouse et al. [Theor. Chem. Acc. 114, 305 (2005)] is explored in the context of multi-configuration range-separated density-functional theory. The new decomposition of the short-range exchange-correlation energy relies on the auxiliary long-range interacting wavefunction rather than the Kohn-Sham (KS) determinant. The advantage, relative to the traditional KS decomposition, is that the wavefunction part of the energy is now computed with the regular (fully interacting) Hamiltonian. One potential drawback is that, because of double counting, the wavefunction used to compute the energy cannot be obtained by minimizing the energy expression with respect to the wavefunction parameters. The problem is overcome by using short-range optimized effective potentials (OEPs). The resulting combination of OEP techniques with wavefunction theory has been investigated in this work, at the Hartree-Fock (HF) and multi-configuration self-consistent-field (MCSCF) levels. In the HF case, an analytical expression for the energy gradient has been derived and implemented. Calculations have been performed within the short-range local density approximation on H2, N2, Li2, and H2O. Significant improvements in binding energies are obtained with the new decomposition of the short-range energy. The importance of optimizing the short-range OEP at the MCSCF level when static correlation becomes significant has also been demonstrated for H2, using a finite-difference gradient. The implementation of the analytical gradient for MCSCF wavefunctions is currently in progress. PMID:24116558

In my dissertation, I examine four notation systems used to represent hand configurations in child acquisition of signed languages. Linguists have long recognized the descriptive limitations of Stokoe notation, currently the most commonly used system for phonetic or phonological transcription, but continue using it because of its widespread…

The Configurable Seismic Monitoring System (CSMS) is a portable seismograph system that can be used for a variety of applications. In its primary format, the CSMS is the Local Seismic Network (LSN); however, the CSMS could be used for site surveys in advance of installing permanent single stations and arrays. It could also be used for special experiments requiring portable recording equipment. 4 figs.

We analyze the flow field within an array of 18 vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) at full-scale and under natural wind conditions. The emphasis is on the energy flux into the turbine array and the energy extraction by the turbines. The wind velocities throughout the turbine array are measured using a portable meteorological tower with seven, vertically-staggered, three-component ultrasonic anemometers. These measurements yield a detailed insight into the turbine wakes and the recovery of the flow. A high planform kinetic energy flux is detected, which enables the flow velocities to return to 95% of the upwind value within six rotor diameters downwind from a turbine row. This is significantly faster than the recovery behind a typical horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT). The Presentation will compare the results for different rotor configurations. Conclusions will be drawn about the influence of these configurations on the power production of the individual turbines as well as the turbine array as a whole. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation Energy for Sustainability program (Grant No. CBET-0725164) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is the next generation community mesoscale model designed to enhance collaboration between the research and operational sectors. The NM'S as a whole has begun a transition toward WRF as the mesoscale model of choice to use as a tool in making local forecasts. Currently, both the National Weather Service in Melbourne, FL (NWS MLB) and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) are running the Advanced Regional Prediction System (AIRPS) Data Analysis System (ADAS) every 15 minutes over the Florida peninsula to produce high-resolution diagnostics supporting their daily operations. In addition, the NWS MLB and SMG have used ADAS to provide initial conditions for short-range forecasts from the ARPS numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. Both NM'S MLB and SMG have derived great benefit from the maturity of ADAS, and would like to use ADAS for providing initial conditions to WRF. In order to assist in this WRF transition effort, the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) was tasked to configure and implement an operational version of WRF that uses output from ADAS for the model initial conditions. Both agencies asked the AMU to develop a framework that allows the ADAS initial conditions to be incorporated into the WRF Environmental Modeling System (EMS) software. Developed by the NM'S Science Operations Officer (S00) Science and Training Resource Center (STRC), the EMS is a complete, full physics, NWP package that incorporates dynamical cores from both the National Center for Atmospheric Research's Advanced Research WRF (ARW) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's Non-Hydrostatic Mesoscale Model (NMM) into a single end-to-end forecasting system. The EMS performs nearly all pre- and postprocessing and can be run automatically to obtain external grid data for WRF boundary conditions, run the model, and convert the data into a format that can be readily viewed within the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System

A new instrument for conducting astronomical searches for nanosecond-scale optical pulses has been designed, built, and is now operating at Oak Ridge Observatory in Harvard, MA. The Advanced All-sky Camera, based on the previous generation ASIC-based design, is implemented using Xilinx Virtex-5 LX110 FPGAs to create a flexible and configurablesystem. Each FPGA has 32 1.5 Gsps analog-to-digital converters, implemented as 8-level flash ADCs using 256 of the Virtex-5's LVDS input pairs. Thirty-two FPGAs in the system total 1024 ADC channels, each with 8kB of sample memory, for triggering on and recording coincident pulse waveforms from an array of 1024 photomultiplier tube anodes. The camera performs a transit-mode search of the Northern sky from --20° < delta < +70° for nanosecond astronomical phenomena and pulsed laser beacon signals from extrasolar technological civilizations. A 1.8 m f/2.5 telescope images a 1.6° x 0.2° area of the sky onto the camera's beamsplit focal plane where coincident optical (300 nm--900 nm) pulses in matched PMT pixel pairs trigger the camera readout. Initial observations with the Advanced All-sky Camera recorded 318 coincident pulse events, eighteen of which are identified as Cherenkov light from cosmic ray induced extensive air showers, ~30 are traced to aircraft, and the rest are single-pixel, low-amplitude pulses caused by detector artifacts. This thesis examines the plausibility of pulsed optical interstellar communications, describes briefly the original all-sky camera and its limitations, presents the design of the PulseNet-V FPGAs and the Advanced All-sky Camera, and concludes with tests and initial observations using the new system.

The theory of a laser system with a ladder-type configuration is studied in detail based on the quantum Langevin approach. By using an external field to link the lower lasing level with another atomic level, whose decay rate is much larger, laser intensity significantly increases and the quantum-limited linewidth can be quenched. We also discuss the spectrum of fluctuations of the output field, and the result shows that the fluctuations at low frequencies can be much suppressed too. On the other hand, this quenching approach can realize a laser output between two atomic levels, whose decay rates do not satisfy the usual lasing condition that the decay rate of the lower lasing level should be larger than that of the upper lasing level. It will be very useful to realize a laser output with the wavelength we want. This quenching approach has been widely used in the absorption spectrum of the ytterbium optical lattice clock and in the laser cooling approach for calcium atoms. Here we apply it in the stimulated emission of lasers.

A software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) based on deflectometry was developed at the University of Arizona for rapidly, robustly, and accurately measuring precision aspheric and freeform surfaces. SCOTS uses a camera with an external stop to realize a Hartmann test in reverse. With the external camera stop as the reference, a coordinate measuring machine can be used to calibrate the SCOTS test geometry to a high accuracy. Systematic errors from the camera are carefully investigated and controlled. Camera pupil imaging aberration is removed with the external aperture stop. Imaging aberration and other inherent errors are suppressed with an N-rotation test. The performance of the SCOTS test is demonstrated with the measurement results from a 5-m-diameter Large Synoptic Survey Telescope tertiary mirror and an 8.4-m diameter Giant Magellan Telescope primary mirror. The results show that SCOTS can be used as a large-dynamic-range, high-precision, and non-null test method for precision aspheric and freeform surfaces. The SCOTS test can achieve measurement accuracy comparable to traditional interferometric tests.

In this paper, we make explicit the changing configurations of power relations that currently characterize the Brazilian Emergency Care System (SAMU) team in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The SAMU is a recent innovation in Brazilian healthcare service delivery. A qualitative case study methodology was used to explore SAMU's current organizational arrangements, specifically the power relations that have developed and that demonstrate internal team struggles over space and defense of particular occupational interests. The argument advanced in this paper is that these professionals are developing their work in conditions of exposure, that is, they are always being observed by someone, and that such observational exposure provides the conditions whereby everyday emergency care practices are enacted such that practice is shaped by, as well as shapes, particular, yet recognizable power relationships. Data were collected through the observation of the SAMU's work processes and through semi-structured interviews. Research materials were analyzed using discourse analysis. In the emergency care process of work, visibility is actually embedded in the disciplinary context and can thus be analyzed as a technique applied to produce disciplined individuals through the simple mechanisms elaborated by Foucault such as hierarchical surveillance, normalizing judgment, and the examination. PMID:22591246

The following reports are presented on this project:A first year progress report on: Development of a Dynamically Configurable,Object-Oriented Framework for Distributed, Multi-modal Computational Aerospace Systems Simulation; A second year progress report on: Development of a Dynamically Configurable, Object-Oriented Framework for Distributed, Multi-modal Computational Aerospace Systems Simulation; An Extensible, Interchangeable and Sharable Database Model for Improving Multidisciplinary Aircraft Design; Interactive, Secure Web-enabled Aircraft Engine Simulation Using XML Databinding Integration; and Improving the Aircraft Design Process Using Web-based Modeling and Simulation.

Energy-Dispersive X-ray Diffraction (EDXRD) is well suited for the detection of narcotics and a wide range of explosives. This technique, combined with the dual-energy tomosynthesis, has been used for verification of a novel portable imaging system, the aim of which is characterization of dangerous/illicit materials inside objects. We present the design methodology and optimization study using EDXRD modality. In order to evaluate the experimental conditions best suited for system purposes, kinematic theory of diffraction has been exploited to model the height and shape of diffraction patterns. From the simulation-based analysis a diffraction angle of 2.75°±0.10° and an X-ray tube voltage ≤160 kV have been selected.

Diamond metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors were prepared using atomic layer deposition at 250 °C of Al2O3 on oxygen-terminated boron doped (001) diamond. Their electrical properties were investigated in terms of capacitance and current versus voltage measurements. Performing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy based on the measured core level energies and valence band maxima, the interfacial energy band diagram configuration of the Al2O3/O-diamond is established. The band diagram alignment is concluded to be of type I with valence band offset Δ E v of 1.34 ± 0.2 eV and conduction band offset Δ E c of 0.56 ± 0.2 eV considering an Al2O3 energy band gap of 7.4 eV. The agreement with electrical measurement and the ability to perform a MOS transistor are discussed.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are powerful methods for the classification of multi-dimensional data as well as for the control of dynamic systems. In general terms, ANNs consist of neurons that are, e.g., arranged in layers and interconnected by real-valued or binary neural couplings or weights. ANNs try mimicking the processing taking place in biological brains. The classification and generalization capabilities of ANNs are given by the interconnection architecture and the coupling strengths. To perform a certain classification or control task with a particular ANN architecture (i.e., number of neurons, number of layers, etc.), the inter-neuron couplings and their accordant coupling strengths must be determined (1) either by a priori design (i.e., manually) or (2) using training algorithms such as error back-propagation. The more complex the classification or control task, the less obvious it is how to determine an a priori design of an ANN, and, as a consequence, the architecture choice becomes somewhat arbitrary. Furthermore, rather than being able to determine for a given architecture directly the corresponding coupling strengths necessary to perform the classification or control task, these have to be obtained/learned through training of the ANN on test data. We report on the use of a Stochastic Optimization Framework (SOF; Fink, SPIE 2008) for the autonomous self-configuration of Artificial Neural Networks (i.e., the determination of number of hidden layers, number of neurons per hidden layer, interconnections between neurons, and respective coupling strengths) for performing classification or control tasks. This may provide an approach towards cognizant and self-adapting computing architectures and systems.

Oxygenated hydrocarbons play important roles in combustion science as renewable fuels and additives, but many details about their combustion chemistry remain poorly understood. Although many methods exist for computing accurate electronic energies of molecules at equilibrium geometries, a consistent description of entire combustion reaction potential energy surfaces (PESs) requires multireference correlated wavefunction theories. Here we use bond dissociation energies (BDEs) as a foundational metric to benchmark methods based on multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) for several classes of oxygenated compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and methyl esters). We compare results from multireference singles and doubles configuration interaction to those utilizing a posteriori and a priori size-extensivity corrections, benchmarked against experiment and coupled cluster theory. We demonstrate that size-extensivity corrections are necessary for chemically accurate BDE predictions even in relatively small molecules and furnish examples of unphysical BDE predictions resulting from using too-small orbital active spaces. We also outline the specific challenges in using MRCI methods for carbonyl-containing compounds. The resulting complete basis set extrapolated, size-extensivity-corrected MRCI scheme produces BDEs generally accurate to within 1 kcal/mol, laying the foundation for this scheme's use on larger molecules and for more complex regions of combustion PESs.

Oxygenated hydrocarbons play important roles in combustion science as renewable fuels and additives, but many details about their combustion chemistry remain poorly understood. Although many methods exist for computing accurate electronic energies of molecules at equilibrium geometries, a consistent description of entire combustion reaction potential energy surfaces (PESs) requires multireference correlated wavefunction theories. Here we use bond dissociation energies (BDEs) as a foundational metric to benchmark methods based on multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) for several classes of oxygenated compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and methyl esters). We compare results from multireference singles and doubles configuration interaction to those utilizing a posteriori and a priori size-extensivity corrections, benchmarked against experiment and coupled cluster theory. We demonstrate that size-extensivity corrections are necessary for chemically accurate BDE predictions even in relatively small molecules and furnish examples of unphysical BDE predictions resulting from using too-small orbital active spaces. We also outline the specific challenges in using MRCI methods for carbonyl-containing compounds. The resulting complete basis set extrapolated, size-extensivity-corrected MRCI scheme produces BDEs generally accurate to within 1 kcal/mol, laying the foundation for this scheme's use on larger molecules and for more complex regions of combustion PESs. PMID:25669533

Oxygenated hydrocarbons play important roles in combustion science as renewable fuels and additives, but many details about their combustion chemistry remain poorly understood. Although many methods exist for computing accurate electronic energies of molecules at equilibrium geometries, a consistent description of entire combustion reaction potential energy surfaces (PESs) requires multireference correlated wavefunction theories. Here we use bond dissociation energies (BDEs) as a foundational metric to benchmark methods based on multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) for several classes of oxygenated compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and methyl esters). We compare results from multireference singles and doubles configuration interaction to those utilizing a posteriori and a priori size-extensivity corrections, benchmarked against experiment and coupled cluster theory. We demonstrate that size-extensivity corrections are necessary for chemically accurate BDE predictions even in relatively small molecules and furnish examples of unphysical BDE predictions resulting from using too-small orbital active spaces. We also outline the specific challenges in using MRCI methods for carbonyl-containing compounds. The resulting complete basis set extrapolated, size-extensivity-corrected MRCI scheme produces BDEs generally accurate to within 1 kcal/mol, laying the foundation for this scheme's use on larger molecules and for more complex regions of combustion PESs.

We studied the effect of segmented solvent molecules on the free energy of transfer of small molecules from water into alkanes (hexane, heptane, octane, decane, dodecane, tetradecane, and hexadecane). For these alkanes we measured partition coefficients of benzene, 3-methylindole (3MI), 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (TeCP), and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TriBP) at 3, 11, 20, 3, and 47 °C. For 3MI, TeCP, and TriBP the dependence of free energy of transfer on length of alkane chains was found to be very different from that for benzene. In contrast to benzene, the energy of transfer for 3MI, TeCP, and TriBP was independent of the number of carbons in alkanes. To interpret data, we used the classic Flory-Huggins (FH) theory of concentrated polymer solutions for the alkane phase. For benzene, the measured dependence of energy of transfer on the number of carbons in alkanes agreed well with predictions based on FH model in which the size of alkane segments was obtained from the ratio of molar volumes of alkanes and the solute. We show that for benzene, the energy of transfer can be divided into two components, one called environmental swap energy (ESE), and one representing the contribution of configurational entropy of alkane chains. For 3MI, TeCP, and TriBP the contribution of configurational entropy was not measurable even though the magnitude of the effect predicted from the FH model for short chain alkanes was as much as 20 times greater than experimental uncertainties. From the temperature dependence of ESE we obtained enthalpy and entropy of transfer for benzene, 3MI, TeCP, and TriBP. Experimental results are discussed in terms of a thermodynamic cycle considering creation of cavity, insertion of solute, and activation of solute-medium attractive interactions. Our results suggest that correcting experimental free energy of transfer by Flory-Huggins configurational entropy term is not generally appropriate and cannot be applied indiscriminately.

Configuration management (CM) is essential to maintaining an acceptable level of risk to the public, workers, environment, or mission success. It is a set of activities and techniques used to maintain consistency among physical and functional configuration, applicable requirements, and key documents. This document provides guidance for continuing the implementation of CM in a phased and graded manner. It describes a cost-effective approach to documented consistency with requirements, with early emphasis on items most important to safety and environmental protection. It is intended to help responsible line managers and configuration management staff personnel in meeting the EnergySystemsconfiguration management policy standard.

The goal of this study is to examine various energy resources in district energy (DE) systems and then DE system performance development by means of multiple thermal energy storages (TES) application. This study sheds light on areas not yet investigated precisely in detail. Throughout the research, major components of the heat plant, energy suppliers of the DE systems, and TES characteristics are separately examined; integration of various configurations of the multiple TESs in the DE system is then analysed. In the first part of the study, various sources of energy are compared, in a consistent manner, financially and environmentally. The TES performance is then assessed from various aspects. Then, TES(s) and DE systems with several sources of energy are integrated, and are investigated as a heat process centre. The most efficient configurations of the multiple TESs integrated with the DE system are investigated. Some of the findings of this study are applied on an actual DE system. The outcomes of this study provide insight for researchers and engineers who work in this field, as well as policy makers and project managers who are decision-makers. The accomplishments of the study are original developments TESs and DE systems. As an original development the Enviro-Economic Function, to balance the economic and environmental aspects of energy resources technologies in DE systems, is developed; various configurations of multiple TESs, including series, parallel, and general grid, are developed. The developed related functions are discharge temperature and energy of the TES, and energy and exergy efficiencies of the TES. The TES charging and discharging behavior of TES instantaneously is also investigated to obtain the charging temperature, the maximum charging temperature, the charging energy flow, maximum heat flow capacity, the discharging temperature, the minimum charging temperature, the discharging energy flow, the maximum heat flow capacity, and performance

Electronic devices are high demand commodities in today's world, and such devices will continue increasing in popularity. Currently, batteries are implemented to provide power to these devices; however, the need for battery replacement, their cost, and the waste associated with battery disposal present a need for advances in self-powered technology. Energy harvesting technology has great potential to alleviate the drawbacks of batteries. In this work, a novel piezoelectret foam material is investigated for low-level energy harvesting. Specifically, piezoelectret foam assembled in a multilayer stack configuration is explored. Modeling and experimentation of the stack behavior when excited in compression at low frequencies are performed to investigate piezoelectret foam as a multilayer energy harvester. An examination of modeling piezoelectret foam as a stack with an equivalent circuit is made following recently published work and is used in this study. A 20-layer prototype device is fabricated and experimentally tested via harmonic base excitation. Electromechanical testing is performed by compressing the foam stack to obtain output electrical energy; consequently, allowing the frequency response between input mechanical energy and output electrical energy to be developed. Modeling results are compared to the experimental measurements to assess the fidelity of the model. Lastly, energy harvesting experimentation in which the device is subject to harmonic base excitation at the natural frequency is conducted to determine the ability of the piezoelectret foam stack to successfully charge a capacitor.

The Classified Computer Configuration Control System (C{sup 4}S) allows security management to track pertinent information concerning classified computer systems in the scope of their control. Information is entered by the level security manager that is closest to the classified computer system. Managers that are further removed from systems can have consolidated information made available to them. C{sup 4}S can be used to generate reports that are as current as the last information that was entered into the database. C{sup 4}S offers data entry, data display, and data reporting. The user interface uses menus, entry forms, the mouse, and Hot Keys. C{sup 4}S provides help windows that are available at any time by pressing the F1 key. C{sup 4}S has help for each menu, data entry form, and general program information. You can browse a help window by pressing the arrows, page up, or page down keys. You control C{sup 4}S with program options selected from pull-down menus. You {open_quotes}select{close_quotes} by moving a highlight bar up and down or across the menu and pressing enter on one of the options. The highlight bar is moved using the arrow keys, mouse, or selection letters. Notice that a letter of each menu option is a different color from the other letters. This is the selection letter for that option. If you press the selection letter, the highlight bar will move to that option. You can also use a mouse to move the highlight bar to the option by moving the mouse pointer to the option and pressing the mouse button. Explanation of menu options or entry fields appear at the bottom of the screen. These explanations should help you use C{sup 4}S. If you need more help, it is available by pressing F1. C{sup 4}S will bring up a help window for the particular option you are working with. The authors of the program are P.B. O`Callaghan, A. J. Grambihler, and R.A. Nelson.

The present invention is directed to an improved wet air oxidation system and method for reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of waste water used from scrubbers of coal gasification plants, with this COD reduction being sufficient to effectively eliminate waste water as an environmental pollutant. The improvement of the present invention is provided by heating the air used in the oxidation process to a temperature substantially equal to the temperature in the oxidation reactor before compressing or pressurizing the air. The compression of the already hot air further heats the air which is then passed in heat exchange with gaseous products of the oxidation reaction for "superheating" the gaseous products prior to the use thereof in turbines as the driving fluid. The superheating of the gaseous products significantly minimizes condensation of gaseous products in the turbine so as to provide a substantially greater recovery of mechanical energy from the process than heretofore achieved.

Recent advancements in photovoltaic solar cells made from gallium arsenide (GaAs) have shown that with concentration ratios greater than one solar constant, overall efficiencies up to 23% can be achieved. A second issue applicable to solar power systems for spacecraft is the cost driver, which requires that the efficiency/weight ratio be improved so that solar panels with high output, weighing less, will reduce payload weights, which, in turn, reduces launch costs. This has resulted in a Figure of Merit being introduced to grade the characteristics of solar panels for spacecraft. This Figure of Merit defines a ratio of watts/kilogram for a solar panel. Typical flat plate panels on current spacecraft, fabricated with silicon solar cells without concentration, provide Figures of Merit of 25 to 30 watts/Kg. This paper describes a new design of a 12/1 solar concentrator in which conservative calculations show improvements on this Figure of Merit by a major factor. An ultra-lightweight cylindrical solar concentrator is coiled up around a spacecraft in the launch mode, using the same principle as is used in Lufkin type metal measuring tapes. This provides a high volumetric efficiency launch folded mode as compared to the current method of accordion pleats of flat solar panels. The deployment means of this coiled launch mode configuration is much simpler and inherently more reliable than the current unfolding of accordion pleats, and is self powered by the spring action of the coiled cylindrical aluminum mirror. A special triangular heat pipe transfers the heat absorbed by the solar array to the cylindrical mirror, which also acts as the heat dissipator. Through the use of flexible bellows in the heat pipe assembly the assembly collapses to a cylindrical shape having a radial thickness of less than 1 inch, so that only two coils of this concentrating collector around a 10 ft diameter spacecraft results in a 2 ft. wide, x 66 ft. long deployed collector module capable of

This article presents a comparative analysis of the development of research in universities of applied sciences (UAS) in eight European countries and its implications for the configuration of the higher education system. The enhancement of research has mostly been seen as a case of academic drift where UAS attempt to become more similar to…

A shadowgraph study of the National Launch System's (NLS's) 1 1/2 stage and heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) configurations is presented. Shadowgraphs are shown for the range of Mach numbers from Mach 0.6 to 5.0 at various angles-of-attack and roll angles. Since the 1 1/2 stage configuration is generally symmetric, no shadowgraphs of any roll angle are shown for this configuration. The major flow field phenomena over the NLS 1 1/2 stage and HLLV configurations are shown in the shadowgraphs. These shadowgraphs are used in the aerothermodynamic analysis of the external flow conditions the launch vehicle would encounter during the ascent stage of flight. The shadowgraphs presented in this study were obtained from configurations tested in the Marshall Space Flight Center's 14-Inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel during 1992.

Broad area cooling shields are a mass-efficient alternative to conductively cooled thermal radiation shielding. The shield would actively intercept a large portion of incident thermal radiation and transport the heat away using cryogenic helium gas. The design concept consists of a conductive and conformable surface that maximizes heat transfer and formability. Broad Area Cooled (BAC) shields could potentially provide considerable mass savings for spaceflight applications by eliminating the need for a rigid thermal radiation shield for cryogen tanks. The BAC consists of a network of capillary tubes that are thermally connected to a conductive shield material. Chilled helium gas is circulated through the network and transports unwanted heat away from the cryogen tanks. The cryogenic helium gas is pumped and chilled simultaneously using a specialized pulse-tube cryocooler, which further improves the mass efficiency of the system. By reducing the thermal environment temperature from 300 to 100 K, the radiative heat load on a cryogen tank could be reduced by an order of magnitude. For a cryogenic liquid propellant scenario of oxygen and hydrogen, the boiloff of hydrogen would be significantly reduced and completely eliminated for oxygen. A major challenge in implementing this technology on large tanks is that the BAC system must be easily scalable from lab demonstrations to full-scale missions. Also, the BAC shield must be conformable to complex shapes like spheres without losing the ability to maintain constant temperature throughout. The initial design maximizes thermal conductivity between the capillary tube and the conductive radiation shielding by using thin, corrugated aluminum foil with the tube running transverse to the folds. This configuration has the added benefit of enabling the foil to stretch and contract longitudinally. This allows the BAC to conform to the complex curvature of a cryogen tank, which is key to its success. To demonstrate a BAC shield

In complex systems with stochastic components, systems laws often emerge that describe higher level behavior regardless of lower level component configurations. In this paper, emergent laws for describing mechanochemical systems are investigated for processive myosin-actin motility systems. On the basis of prior experimental evidence that longer processive lifetimes are enabled by larger myosin ensembles, it is hypothesized that emergent scaling laws could coincide with myosin-actin contact probability or systemenergy consumption. Because processivity is difficult to predict analytically and measure experimentally, agent-based computational techniques are developed to simulate processive myosin ensembles and produce novel processive lifetime measurements. It is demonstrated that only systemsenergy relationships hold regardless of isoform configurations or ensemble size, and a unified expression for predicting processive lifetime is revealed. The finding of such laws provides insight for how patterns emerge in stochastic mechanochemical systems, while also informing understanding and engineering of complex biological systems. PMID:25885169

A mesh system composed of multiple overset body-conforming grids is described for adapting finite-difference procedures to complex aircraft configurations. In this so-called 'chimera mesh,' a major grid is generated about a main component of the configuration and overset minor grids are used to resolve all other features. Methods for connecting overset multiple grids and modifications of flow-simulation algorithms are discussed. Computational tests in two dimensions indicate that the use of multiple overset grids can simplify the task of grid generation without an adverse effect on flow-field algorithms and computer code complexity.

The influence of anomeric configuration upon thioglycoside donors remains relatively unexplored. Utilizing methodology developed for the stereoselective and high-yielding synthesis of α-glycosyl thiols, a series of α-thioglycosides were synthesized, and their reactivity was compared to that of their β-counterparts. The highly selective activation observed for anomeric pairs containing a 2-O-acyl moiety and additional findings are reported. Application of a pair of "superarmed" thioglycosides to a one-pot oligosaccharide system is also described, in which selectivity is a result of configuration-based orthogonal activation. PMID:27399930

The Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) systemconfiguration for the First United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) mission is reviewed, and the planned on-orbit experiments are briefly described. The CGF is configured to accommodate four scientific experiments involving crystal growth which are based on the classical Bridgman method and CVT method, including vapor transport crystal growth of mercury cadmium telluride; crystal growth of mercury zinc telluride by directional solidification; seeded Bridgman growth of zinc-doped cadmium telluride; and Bridgman growth of selenium-doped gallium arsenide.

Attention is given to hypersonic laminar flow over a quilted surface configuration that simulates an array of Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System panels bowed in a spherical shape as a result of thermal gradients through the panel thickness. Pressure and heating loads to the surface are determined. The flow field over the configuration was mathematically modeled by means of time-dependent, three-dimensional conservation of mass, momentum, and energy equations. A boundary mapping technique was then used to obtain a rectangular, parallelepiped computational domain, and an explicit MacCormack (1972) explicit time-split predictor-corrector finite difference algorithm was used to obtain steady state solutions. Total integrated heating loads vary linearly with bowed height when this value does not exceed the local boundary layer thickness.

This paper is one of the series prepared for a special session to be held at PICA 85. The objective is to review the advances that have been made in Energy Management Systems and to obtain a more common agreement as to the usefulness and future of such systems. The paper contains a summary of five discussions of Energy Management Systems. These discussions focus on the major components of an Energy Management System and address important questions as to the usefulness, past developments, the current state-of-the-art, and needs in Energy Management Systems. Each author provides a different perspective of these systems. The discussions are intended to provide insight into Energy Management Systems, to solicit discussions, and to provide a forum for discussions of Energy Management System's developments and future needs.

A laser apparatus includes a plurality of pumps each of which is configured to emit a corresponding pump laser beam having a unique peak wavelength. The laser apparatus includes a spectral beam combiner configured to combine the corresponding pump laser beams into a substantially spatially-coherent pump laser beam having a pump spectrum that includes the unique peak wavelengths, and first and second selectively reflective elements spaced from each other to define a lasing cavity including a lasing medium therein. The lasing medium generates a plurality of gain spectra responsive to absorbing the pump laser beam. Each gain spectrum corresponds to a respective one of the unique peak wavelengths of the substantially spatially-coherent pump laser beam and partially overlaps with all other ones of the gain spectra. The reflective elements are configured to promote emission of a laser beam from the lasing medium with a peak wavelength common to each gain spectrum.

Design and cost studies were performed for the magnet components of mid-size (1-5 MWh), cold supported SMES systems using alternative configurations. The configurations studied included solenoid magnets, which required onsite assembly of the magnet system, and toroid and racetrack configurations which consisted of factory assembled modules. For each configuration, design concepts and cost information were developed for the major features of the magnet system including the conductor, electrical insulation, and structure. These studies showed that for mid-size systems, the costs of solenoid and toroid magnet configurations are comparable and that the specific configuration to be used for a given application should be based upon customer requirements such as limiting stray fields or minimizing risks in development or construction.

Design and cost studies were performed for the magnet components of mid-size (1-5 MWh), cold supported SMES systems using alternative configurations. The configurations studied included solenoid magnets, which required onsite assembly of the magnet system, and toroid and racetrack configurations which consisted of factory assembled modules. For each configuration, design concepts and cost information were developed for the major features of the magnet system including the conductor, electrical insulation, and structure. These studies showed that for mid-size systems, the costs of solenoid and toroid magnet configurations are comparable and that the specific configuration to be used for a given application should be based upon customer requirements such as limiting stray fields or minimizing risks in development or construction.

The inevitable transformation of the electrical grid to a more distributed generation configuration requires solar system capabilities well beyond simple net-metered, grid-connected approaches. Time-of-use and peak-demand rate structures will require more sophisticated systems designs that integrate energy management and/or energy storage into the system architecture. Controlling power flow into and from the utility grid will be required to ensure grid reliability and power quality. Alternative protection strategies will also be required to accommodate large numbers of distributed energy sources. This document provides an overview of the R&D needs and describes some pathways to promising solutions. The solutions will, in many cases, require R&D of new components, innovative inverter/controllers, energy management systems, innovative energy storage and a suite of advanced control algorithms, technical methodologies, protocols and the associated communications. It is expected that these solutions will help to push the “advanced integrated system” and “smart grid” evolutionary processes forward in a faster but focused manner.

Flight experiments were conducted to evaluate two control concepts for configuration management during the transition to landing approach for a powered-lift STOL aircraft. NASA Ames' augmentor wing research aircraft was used in the program. Transitions from nominal level-flight configurations at terminal area pattern speeds were conducted along straight and curved descending flightpaths. Stabilization and command augmentation for attitude and airspeed control were used in conjunction with a three-cue flight director that presented commands for pitch, roll, and throttle controls. A prototype microwave system provided landing guidance. Results of these flight experiments indicate that these configuration management concepts permit the successful performance of transitions and approaches along curved paths by powered-lift STOL aircraft. Flight director guidance was essential to accomplish the task.

IceCube is a neutrino telescope with an instrumented volume of one cubic kilometer. A total of 5160 Digital Optical Modules (DOMs) is deployed on 86 strings forming a three dimensional detector array. Although primarily designed for the detection of neutrinos from astrophysical sources, the detector can be used for spectral measurements of atmospheric neutrinos. These spectral measurements are hindered by a dominant background of atmospheric muons. State-of-the-art techniques from Machine Learning and Data Mining are required to select a high-purity sample of atmospheric neutrino candidates. The energy spectrum of muon neutrinos is obtained from energy-dependent input variables by utilizing regularized unfolding. The results obtained using IceCube in the 79- and 86-string configuration are presented in this paper.

This plan describes methods and procedures Aerojet will follow in the implementation of configuration control for each established baseline. The plan is written in response to the GSFC EOS CM Plan 420-02-02, dated January 1990, and also meets he requirements specified in DOD-STD-480, DOD-D 1000B, MIL-STD-483A, and MIL-STD-490B. The plan establishes the configuration management process to be used for the deliverable hardware, software, and firmware of the EOS/AMSU-A during development, design, fabrication, test, and delivery. This revision includes minor updates to reflect Aerojet's CM policies.

A combination of molecular quantum electrodynamics, perturbation theory, and ab initio calculations was used to create a computational methodology capable of estimating the rate of three-body singlet upconversion in organic molecular assemblies. The approach was applied to quantify the conditions under which such relaxation rates, known as energy pooling, become meaningful for two test systems, stilbene-fluorescein and hexabenzocoronene-oligothiophene. Both exhibit low intramolecular conversion, but intermolecular configurations exist in which pooling efficiency is at least 90% when placed in competition with more conventional relaxation pathways. For stilbene-fluorescein, the results are consistent with data generated in an earlier experimental investigation. Exercising these model systems facilitated the development of a set of design rules for the optimization of energy pooling. PMID:25793313

We suggest a possible scenario for magnetic transition under pressure in dimerised systems where electrons are localised on molecular orbitals. The mechanism of transition is not related with competition between kinetic energy and on-site Coulomb repulsion as in Mott-Hubbard systems, or between crystal-field splitting and intra-atomic exchange as in classical atomic spin-state transitions. Instead, it is driven by the change of bonding-antibonding splitting on part of the molecular orbitals. In the magnetic systems with few half-filled molecular orbitals external pressure may result in increase of the bonding-antibonding splitting and localise all electrons on low-lying molecular orbitals suppressing net magnetic moment of the system. We give examples of the systems, where this or inverse transition may occur and by means of ab initio band structure calculations predict that it can be observed in α‑MoCl4 at pressure P ~ 11 GPa.

We suggest a possible scenario for magnetic transition under pressure in dimerised systems where electrons are localised on molecular orbitals. The mechanism of transition is not related with competition between kinetic energy and on-site Coulomb repulsion as in Mott-Hubbard systems, or between crystal-field splitting and intra-atomic exchange as in classical atomic spin-state transitions. Instead, it is driven by the change of bonding-antibonding splitting on part of the molecular orbitals. In the magnetic systems with few half-filled molecular orbitals external pressure may result in increase of the bonding-antibonding splitting and localise all electrons on low-lying molecular orbitals suppressing net magnetic moment of the system. We give examples of the systems, where this or inverse transition may occur and by means of ab initio band structure calculations predict that it can be observed in α−MoCl4 at pressure P ~ 11 GPa. PMID:27189206

We suggest a possible scenario for magnetic transition under pressure in dimerised systems where electrons are localised on molecular orbitals. The mechanism of transition is not related with competition between kinetic energy and on-site Coulomb repulsion as in Mott-Hubbard systems, or between crystal-field splitting and intra-atomic exchange as in classical atomic spin-state transitions. Instead, it is driven by the change of bonding-antibonding splitting on part of the molecular orbitals. In the magnetic systems with few half-filled molecular orbitals external pressure may result in increase of the bonding-antibonding splitting and localise all electrons on low-lying molecular orbitals suppressing net magnetic moment of the system. We give examples of the systems, where this or inverse transition may occur and by means of ab initio band structure calculations predict that it can be observed in α-MoCl4 at pressure P ~ 11 GPa. PMID:27189206

This paper describes a low-power configurable neural recording system capable of capturing and digitizing both neural action-potential (AP) and fast-ripple (FR) signals. It demonstrates the functionality of epileptic seizure detection through FR recording. This system features a fixed-gain, variable-bandwidth (BW) front-end circuit and a sigma-delta ADC with scalable bandwidth and power consumption. The ADC employs a 2nd-order single-bit sigma-delta modulator (SDM) followed by a low-power decimation filter. Direct impulse-response implementation of a sinc(3) filter and 8-cycle data pipelining in an IIR filter are proposed for the decimation filter design to improve the power and area efficiency. In measurements, the front end exhibits 39.6-dB DC gain, 0.8 Hz to 5.2 kHz of BW, 5.86- μVrms input-referred noise, and 2.4- μW power consumption in AP mode, while showing 38.5-dB DC gain, 250 to 486 Hz of BW, 2.48- μVrms noise, and 4.5- μW power consumption in FR mode. The noise efficiency factor (NEF) is 2.93 and 7.6 for the AP and FR modes, respectively. At 77-dB dynamic range (DR), the ADC has a peak SNR and SNDR of 75.9 dB and 67 dB, respectively, while consuming 2.75-mW power in AP mode. It achieves 78-dB DR, 76.2-dB peak SNR, 73.2-dB peak SNDR, and 588- μW power consumption in FR mode. Both analog and digital power supply voltages are 2.8 V. The chip is fabricated in a standard 0.6- μm CMOS process. The die size is 11.25 mm(2). PMID:23893209

This module on solar system economics is one of six in a series intended for use as supplements to currently available materials on solar energy and energy conservation. Together with the recommended texts and references (sources are identified), these modules provide an effective introduction to energy conservation and solar energy technologies.…

Describes the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Technical Information Center (TIC), and lists databases accessible online to the Department of Energy and its contractors through DOE/RECON. (RAA)

Accurate estimation of configurational entropy from the in silico-generated biomolecular ensembles, e.g., from molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories, is dependent strongly on exhaustive sampling for physical reasons. This, however, creates a major computational problem for the subsequent estimation of configurational entropy using the Maximum Information Spanning Tree (MIST) or Mutual Information Expansion (MIE) approaches for internal molecular coordinates. In particular, the available software for such estimation exhibits serious limitations when it comes to molecules with hundreds or thousands of atoms, because of its reliance on a serial program architecture. To overcome this problem, we have developed a parallel, hybrid MPI/openMP C++ implementation of MIST and MIE, called PARENT, which is particularly optimized for high-performance computing and provides efficient estimation of configurational entropy in different biological processes (e.g., protein-protein interactions). In addition, PARENT also allows for a detailed mapping of intramolecular allosteric networks. Here, we benchmark the program on a set of 1-μs-long MD trajectories of 10 different protein complexes and their components, demonstrating robustness and good scalability. A direct comparison between MIST and MIE on the same dataset demonstrates a superior convergence behavior for the former approach, when it comes to total simulation length and configurational-space binning. PMID:26989950

This paper describes the optimization of a hybrid energysystem model. Currently in Sarawak, people living in the rural areas still depend on diesel generators to generate electricity. This increases the demand for fossil fuel, creates noise pollution and toxic gas is emitted to the environment. Hence, hybrid energysystems were introduced to replace this conventional energysystem as well as improving the living standard in the villages. In this paper, several hybrid energysystemconfigurations were investigated in order to find out the most cost effective hybrid system through Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewability (Homer) software. Homer simulates, optimizes, and analyzes the sensitivity variables for each of the systemconfigurations.

Agar matrix was artificially contaminated with caesium and subjected to rapid assessment of electrokinetic treatment on the basis of the 2D electrode configuration. The effect of caesium concentration on the process was investigated using different electrode configuration (i.e. rectangular, hexagonal and triangular). During treatment the in situ pH distribution, the current flow, and the potential distribution were monitored. At the end of the treatment, the caesium concentration distribution was measured. The results of these experiments showed that for caesium contamination, pH control is essential in order to create a suitable environment throughout the agar matrix to enable contaminant removal. It was found that the type of electrode configuration used to control the pH affected the rate of caesium accumulation. All of the electrode configurations tested was effective, but the highest caesium extraction was achieved when the hexagonal pattern was used to control the pH. After 72 h of treatment at 50 mA, the concentration of caesium decreased gradually from the second and first layer of agar matrix throughout the cell, suggesting that most of the caesium was concentrated on the cathode part.

The Department of Energy Office of Electricity (DOE/OE), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Base Camp Integration Lab (BCIL) partnered together to incorporate an energy storage system into a microgrid configured Forward Operating Base to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and to ultimately save lives. Energy storage vendors will be sending their systems to SNL Energy Storage Test Pad (ESTP) for functional testing and then to the BCIL for performance evaluation. The technologies that will be tested are electro-chemical energy storage systems comprising of lead acid, lithium-ion or zinc-bromide. Raytheon/KTech has developed an energy storage system that utilizes zinc-bromide flow batteries to save fuel on a military microgrid. This report contains the testing results and some limited analysis of performance of the Raytheon/KTech Zinc-Bromide Energy Storage System.

A self-recharging battery comprising a generator and an energy storage device contained within the battery case. The generator comprises a magnetic structure configured to generate a compressed magnetic field and a coil configured to focus the compressed magnetic field in electrical conductive elements of the coil.

A thermal-mechanical energy converting device is disclosed that has at least two rotatably supported wheels and with one or more endless transmission elements of a material having a memory effect capable in the bending mode of converting thermal energy into mechanical energy when heated from a temperature below its transition temperature to a temperature above its transition temperature; the transmission elements serve to drive one wheel from the other wheel upon application of thermal energy to the transmission elements, whereby the thermal energy is transferred from the other wheel to the transmission elements over at least a major portion of the circumferential contact of the transmission elements with the other wheel.

A method includes identifying a first operating sequence of a repeated operation of at least one non-traction load. The method also includes determining first and second parameters respectively indicative of a requested energy and output energy of the at least one non-traction load and comparing the determined first and second parameters at a plurality of time increments of the first operating sequence. The method also includes determining a third parameter of the hybrid energysystem indicative of energy regenerated from the at least one non-traction load and monitoring the third parameter at the plurality of time increments of the first operating sequence. The method also includes determining at least one of an energy deficiency or an energy surplus associated with the non-traction load of the hybrid energysystem and selectively adjusting energy stored within the storage device during at least a portion of a second operating sequence.

Configuration coordinate diagrams, which are normally used in a qualitative manner for the energy levels of active centers in phosphors, are quantitatively obtained here for intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) states of mixed valence pairs and metal-to-metal charge transfer (MMCT) states of heteronuclear pairs, in solid hosts. The procedure relies on vibrational frequencies and excitation energies of single-ion active centers, and on differences between ion-ligand distances of the donor and the acceptor, which are attainable empirically or through ab initio calculations. The configuration coordinate diagrams of the Yb(2+)/Yb(3+) mixed-valence pair in Yb-doped YAG and the Ce(3+)/Yb(3+) heteronuclear pair in Ce,Yb-codoped YAG, are obtained and described. They are drawn from empirical data of the single-ions and their usefulness is discussed. The first diagram suggests that IVCT states of Yb(2+)/Yb(3+) pairs may play an important role in the quenching of the Yb(3+) emission and it provides the details of the quenching mechanism. The second diagram supports the interpretation recently given for the energy transfer from Ce(3+) to Yb(3+) in Ce,Yb-codoped YAG via a MMCT Ce(4+)-Yb(2+) state and it provides the details. The analyses of the two diagrams suggest the formation of Yb(2+)/Yb(3+) pairs after the Ce(3+)-to-Yb(3+) MMCT, which is responsible for the temperature quenching of the Yb(3+) emission excited via Ce(3+) (4f → 5d) absorption in Ce,Yb-codoped YAG. PMID:26159813

The stowage list and hardware tracking system, a computer based information management system, used in support of the space shuttle orbiter stowage configuration and the Johnson Space Center hardware tracking is described. The input, processing, and output requirements that serve as a baseline for system development are defined.

Energy management in its most comprehensive sense encompasses economic, technical, environmental, and political problems. The present evaluation of prospects notes that opportunities for energy conservation are widespread, in such fields as building air conditioning, transportation, electrical appliances, and industrial processes. Further conservation is expected to be achieved through a combination of technology development and economics; the latter factor must not be unduly influenced by political measures that shield consumers from the true cost of energy.

A point-sensitive NMR imaging system (10) in which a main solenoid coil (11) produces a relatively strong and substantially uniform magnetic field and a pair of perturbing coils (PZ1 and PZ2) powered by current in the same direction superimposes a pair of relatively weak perturbing fields on the main field to produce a resultant point of minimum field strength at a desired location in a direction along the Z-axis. Two other pairs of perturbing coils (PX1, PX2; PY1, PY2) superimpose relatively weak field gradients on the main field in directions along the X- and Y-axes to locate the minimum field point at a desired location in a plane normal to the Z-axes. An RF generator (22) irradiates a tissue specimen in the field with radio frequency energy so that desired nuclei in a small volume at the point of minimum field strength will resonate.

A point-sensitive NMR imaging system in which a main solenoid coil produces a relatively strong and substantially uniform magnetic field and a pair of perturbing coils powered by current in the same direction superimposes a pair of relatively weak perturbing fields on the main field to produce a resultant point of minimum field strength at a desired location in a direction along the Z-axis. Two other pairs of perturbing coils superimpose relatively weak field gradients on the main field in directions along the X- and Y-axes to locate the minimum field point at a desired location in a plane normal to the Z-axes. An rf generator irradiates a tissue specimen in the field with radio frequency energy so that desired nuclei in a small volume at the point of minimum field strength will resonate.

Energy is stored by nature in the tides, waves, and thermal and salinity gradients of the world`s oceans. Although the total energy flux of each of these renewable resources is large, only a small fraction of their potential is likely to be exploited in the foreseeable future. There are two reasons for this. First, ocean energy is spread diffusely over a wide area, requiring large and expensive plants for its collection; and second, the energy is often available in areas remote from centers of consumption. Tidal energy, which entails the use of estuarine barrages at sites having high tidal ranges, offers the best prospects in the short to medium term. Not only are its components commercially available, but many of the best sites for implementation have been identified. Indeed, on the basis of current field experience, tidal power may be regarded as a technically proven, dependable and long-lived source of electric power. The exploitation of wave energy, by comparison, is still in its infancy. Small shoreline and nearshore devices are likely to be developed first, but their applicability and potential is limited. More powerful, large-wave offshore energy plants are unlikely to be deployed for a few decades, although the bulk of ocean-energy potential is located offshore. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), which is currently in the prototype stage, is costly and largely restricted to tropical locations. Its applications are likely to be limited. Salt-gradient energy, once a focus of interest, is not expected to be exploited in the foreseeable future. Overall, the pace and extent of commercial exploitation of ocean energy is likely to be affected by the rising environmental costs of fossil fuels and by the availability of construction capital at modes real interest rates. If the largest projects are to succeed, however, government support at the national level may be necessary. 42 refs., 13 figs., 4 tabs.

This is the configuration management Plan for the AdaNet Repository Based Software Engineering (RBSE) contract. This document establishes the requirements and activities needed to ensure that the products developed for the AdaNet RBSE contract are accurately identified, that proposed changes to the product are systematically evaluated and controlled, that the status of all change activity is known at all times, and that the product achieves its functional performance requirements and is accurately documented.

In this work we discuss the multiparticle-multihole configuration mixing method which aims to describe the structure of atomic nuclei. Based on a variational principle it is able to treat in a unified way all types of long-range correlations between nucleons, without introducing symmetry breaking. The formalism is presented along with some preliminary results obtained for a few sd-shell nuclei. In the presented applications, the D1S Gogny force has been used.

Terrestrial energy storage systems for the SSP system were evaluated that could maintain the 1.2 GW power level during periods of brief outages from the solar powered satellite (SPS). Short-term outages of ten minutes and long-term outages up to four hours have been identified as "typical" cases where the ground-based energy storage system would be required to supply power to the grid. These brief interruptions in transmission could result from performing maintenance on the solar power satellite or from safety considerations necessitating the power beam be turned off. For example, one situation would be to allow for the safe passage of airplanes through the space occupied by the beam. Under these conditions, the energy storage system needs to be capable of storing 200 MW-hrs and 4.8 GW-hrs, respectively. The types of energy storage systems to be considered include compressed air energy storage, inertial energy storage, electrochemical energy storage, superconducting magnetic energy storage, and pumped hydro energy storage. For each of these technologies, the state-of-the-art in terms of energy and power densities were identified as well as the potential for scaling to the size systems required by the SSP system. Other issues addressed included the performance, life expectancy, cost, and necessary infrastructure and site locations for the various storage technologies.

Recent activities carried out by ANSALDO for the Ignitor program include the structural analysis of the machine Load Assembly for two new scenarios that extend the operation of the machine to H- regimes, where the plasma equilibrium configuration is of the double X- point type and the out-of-plane forces increase. A complete structural analysis was carried out for three scenarios with BT= 13 T and Ip= 9 and 10 MA and double X points just outside the plasma chamber, and Ip= 9 MA and double X points just inside the plasma chamber. The lowered values of the plasma current can offset the increase of stress due to the less favorable X-point configuration relative to the ``extended limiter'' configuration. With the cryogenic plant involving gaseous helium and studied by LINDE KRYOTECHNIK AG, the toroidal field coils reach temperatures up to 230 K and the central solenoid coils approach 220 K after a pulse at the most extreme machine parameters, while the vertical field coils remain under 100 K. Several hours are needed to re-cool the machine down to 30 K before each pulse. New calculations are underway to verify the plant cooling performance at reduced parameters but with more stringent cooling times between shots.

Scheme based on chemical decomposition and recombination converts energy collected at relatively low temperatures (300 C) to higher temperatures required for efficient operation of steam-driven electrical generators. Approach uses one or more cyclical reversible chemical reactions in which compound is made to decompose and absorb thermal energy at low temperature by shifting equilibrium.

Alternate hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) energy storage systems (ESS) such as lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) and electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) modules have the potential for improved life, superior cold temperature performance, and lower long-term cost projections relative to traditional battery storage systems. If such lower-energy ESS (LEESS) devices can also be shown to maintain high HEV fuel savings, future HEVs designed with these devices could have an increased value proposition relative to conventional vehicles. NREL's vehicle test platform is helping validate the in-vehicle performance capability of alternative LEESS devices and identify unforeseen issues. NREL created the Ford Fusion Hybrid test platform for in-vehicle evaluation of such alternative LEESS devices, bench testing of the initial LIC pack, integration and testing of the LIC pack in the test vehicle, and bench testing and installation of an EDLC module pack. EDLC pack testing will continue in FY15. The in-vehicle LIC testing results suggest technical viability of LEESS devices to support HEV operation. Several LIC configurations tested demonstrated equivalent fuel economy and acceleration performance as the production nickel-metal-hydride ESS configuration across all tests conducted. The lowest energy LIC scenario demonstrated equivalent performance over several tests, although slightly higher fuel consumption on the US06 cycle and slightly slower acceleration performance. More extensive vehicle-level calibration may be able to reduce or eliminate these performance differences. The overall results indicate that as long as critical attributes such as engine start under worst case conditions can be retained, considerable ESS downsizing may minimally impact HEV fuel savings.

Configuration data and design information for the Atlas Centaur launched configuration are presented. Overall system definition, operations and control, and telecommunication service system, including link budgets, are discussed. A brief description of the user telecommunications equipment and ground station is presented. A summary description of the TDR spacecraft and all the subsystems is included. The data presented are largely in tabular form. A brief treatment of an optional configuration with enhanced telecommunications service is described.

Building an experimental network within a testbed has been a tiresome process for experimenters, due to the complexity of the physical resource assignment and the configuration overhead. Also, the process could not be expedited across testbeds, because the syntax of a configuration file varies depending on specific hardware and software. Re-configuration of an experimental topology for each testbed wastes time, an experimenter could not carry out his/her experiments during the limited lease time of a testbed at worst. In this paper, we propose the AnyBed: the experimental network-building system. The conceptual idea of AnyBed is “If experimental network topologies can be portable across any kinds of testbed, then, it would expedite building an experimental network on a testbed while manipulating experiments by each testbed support tool”. To achieve this concept, AnyBed divide an experimental network configuration into the logical and physical network topologies. Mapping these two topologies, AnyBed can build intended logical network topology on any PC clusters. We have evaluated the AnyBed implementation using two distinct clusters. The evaluation result shows a BGP topology with 150 nodes can be constructed on a large scale testbed in less than 113 seconds.

A stand alone battery module including: (a) a mechanical configuration; (b) a thermal management configuration; (c) an electrical connection configuration; and (d) an electronics configuration. Such a module is fully interchangeable in a battery pack assembly, mechanically, from the thermal management point of view, and electrically. With the same hardware, the module can accommodate different cell sizes and, therefore, can easily have different capacities. The module structure is designed to accommodate the electronics monitoring, protection, and printed wiring assembly boards (PWAs), as well as to allow airflow through the module. A plurality of modules may easily be connected together to form a battery pack. The parts of the module are designed to facilitate their manufacture and assembly.

The stationary Digital Breast Tomosynthesis System (s-DBT) has the advantage over the conventional DBT systems as there is no motion blurring in the projection images associated with the x-ray source motion. We have developed a prototype s-DBT system by retrofitting a Hologic Selenia Dimensions rotating gantry tomosynthesis system with a distributed carbon nanotube (CNT) x-ray source array. The linear array consists of 31 x-ray generating focal spots distributed over a 30 degree angle. Each x-ray beam can be electronically activated allowing the flexibility and easy implementation of novel tomosynthesis scanning with different scanning parameters and configurations. Here we report the initial results of investigation on the imaging quality of the s-DBT system and its dependence on the acquisition parameters including the number of projections views, the total angular span of the projection views, the dose distribution between different projections, and the total dose. A mammography phantom is used to visually assess image quality. The modulation transfer function (MTF) of a line wire phantom is used to evaluate the system spatial resolution. For s-DBT the in-plan system resolution, as measured by the MTF, does not change for different configurations. This is in contrast to rotating gantry DBT systems, where the MTF degrades for increased angular span due to increased focal spot blurring associated with the x-ray source motion. The overall image quality factor, a composite measure of the signal difference to noise ratio (SdNR) for mass detection and the z-axis artifact spread function for microcalcification detection, is best for the configuration with a large angular span, an intermediate number of projection views, and an even dose distribution. These results suggest possible directions for further improvement of s-DBT systems for high quality breast cancer imaging.

A configuration space method, pioneered by Landau and Herring in studies of molecular binding and magnetism, is developed to obtain universal asymptotic relations for lowest energy exciton complexes (trion, biexciton) in confined semiconductor nanostructures such as nanowires and nanotubes, as well as coupled quantum wells. Trions are shown to be more stable (have greater binding energy) than biexcitons in strongly confined quasi-1D structures with small reduced electron-hole masses. Biexcitons are more stable in less confined quasi-1D structures with large reduced electron-hole masses. The theory predicts a crossover behavior, whereby trions become less stable than biexcitons as the transverse size of the quasi-1D nanostructure increases, which might be observed on semiconducting carbon nanotubes of increasing diameters. This method is also efficient in calculating binding energies for trion-type electron-hole complexes formed by indirect excitons in double coupled quantum wells, quasi-2D nanostructures that show new interesting electroabsorption/refraction phenomena. Supported by DOE-DE-SC0007117.

Diamond can obtain a negative electron affinity (NEA) after hydrogen termination. With NEA and n-type doping, a low effective work function and efficient thermionic emission has been observed from these diamond films. Photo-induced electron emission from nitrogen doped diamond with visible light illumination has also been established by our group. Recently several reports have described efficient energy conversion based on the photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) mechanism. This study proposes a multi-layer emitter and collector structure for an isothermal PETE converter. The emitter structure is based on an n-type NEA diamond film deposited on a p-type Si substrate to enable electron emission across a vacuum gap. In this structure the above-bandgap light is absorbed in the Si and establishs an enhanced electron population for emission through the low work function surface, while sub-bandgap light is absorbed in the collector for transfer to a heat engine. Spectroscopy measurements of the n-type diamond on Si indicate strong electron emissivity with photon illumination, and the emission intensity is significantly increased at elevated temperatures. A simplified model describing the efficiency and performance of an isothermal PETE device is presented. This research is supported through ONR under grant number # N00014-10-1-0540.

Spatial distributions of plasma parameters such as electron density, electron temperature and electric potential were investigated using a commercial simulation software (COMSOLTM) to predict the effects of antenna configuration in a large area inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system for flat panel displays. Nine planar antenna sets were evenly placed above a ceramic window. While the electron density was influenced by both the input current and gas pressure, the electron temperature and electric potential were dominantly affected by the gas pressure.

This paper analyzes simple imaging configurations to scan a human body, suitable as passive or active millimetre-wave imaging systems for concealed weapon detection (CWD). The first cylindrical configuration allows a 360 degrees scan: N unphased diffraction-limited antennas each of size L are placed on a circular support surrounding the subject (allowing scanning in the horizontal plane with N non-overlapping independent beams), and this circle is mechanically displaced over the whole body height. An analytical formula gives the maximum obtainable spatial resolution for different dimensions of the circular scanning device and operating frequencies, and the number of receivers achieving this optimal resolution. Constraints to be taken into account are diffraction, the usable total length of the circle, and the full coverage by the N beams over the subject, which is modelled as a cylinder with variable radius, coaxial with the scanning circle. Numerical calculations of system resolution are shown for different operating microwave (MW) and millimetre-wave (MMW) frequencies; in order to study off-axis performances, situations where the subject is not coaxial with the scanning device are also considered. For the case of a parallelepiped to be imaged instead of a cylinder, a linear array configuration is analyzed similarly to the circular one. A theoretical study is carried out to design other curved arrays, filled with unphased diffraction-limited antennas, for the imaging of linear subjects with finer resolution. Finally, the application of such configurations is considered for the design of active imaging systems, and different system architectures are discussed.

SEDS is an economy-wide energy model of the U.S. The model captures dynamics between supply, demand, and pricing of the major energy types consumed and produced within the U.S. These dynamics are captured by including: the effects of macroeconomics; the resources and costs of primary energy types such as oil, natural gas, coal, and biomass; the conversion of primary fuels into energy products like petroleum products, electricity, biofuels, and hydrogen; and lastly the end- usemore » consumption attributable to residential and commercial buildings, light and heavy transportation, and industry. Projections from SEDS extend to the year 2050 by one-year time steps and are generally projected at the national level. SEDS differs from other economy-wide energy models in that it explicitly accounts for uncertainty in technology, markets, and policy. SEDS has been specifically developed to avoid the computational burden, and sometimes fruitless labor, that comes from modeling significantly low-level details. Instead, SEDS focuses on the major drivers within the energy economy and evaluates the impact of uncertainty around those drivers.« less

SEDS is an economy-wide energy model of the U.S. The model captures dynamics between supply, demand, and pricing of the major energy types consumed and produced within the U.S. These dynamics are captured by including: the effects of macroeconomics; the resources and costs of primary energy types such as oil, natural gas, coal, and biomass; the conversion of primary fuels into energy products like petroleum products, electricity, biofuels, and hydrogen; and lastly the end- use consumption attributable to residential and commercial buildings, light and heavy transportation, and industry. Projections from SEDS extend to the year 2050 by one-year time steps and are generally projected at the national level. SEDS differs from other economy-wide energy models in that it explicitly accounts for uncertainty in technology, markets, and policy. SEDS has been specifically developed to avoid the computational burden, and sometimes fruitless labor, that comes from modeling significantly low-level details. Instead, SEDS focuses on the major drivers within the energy economy and evaluates the impact of uncertainty around those drivers.

Computed radiography (CR) is considered a drop-in addition or replacement for traditional screen-film (SF) systems in digital mammography. Unlike other technologies, CR has the advantage of being compatible with existing mammography units. One of the challenges, however, is to properly configure the automatic exposure control (AEC) on existing mammography units for CR use. Unlike analogue systems, the capture and display of digital CR images is decoupled. The function of AEC is changed from ensuring proper and consistent optical density of the captured image on film to balancing image quality with patient dose needed for CR. One of the preferences when acquiring CR images under AEC is to use the same patient dose as SF systems. The challenge is whether the existing AEC design and calibration process-most of them proprietary from the X-ray systems manufacturers and tailored specifically for SF response properties-can be adapted for CR cassettes, in order to compensate for their response and attenuation differences. This paper describes the methods for configuring the AEC of three different mammography units models to match the patient dose used for CR with those that are used for a KODAK MIN-R 2000 SF System. Based on phantom test results, these methods provide the dose level under AEC for the CR systems to match with the dose of SF systems. These methods can be used in clinical environments that require the acquisition of CR images under AEC at the same dose levels as those used for SF systems.

The results of structural studies of the Earth Observatory Satellite (EOS) which define the member sizes to meet the vehicle design requirements are presented. The most significant requirements in sizing the members are the stiffness required to meet the launch vehicle design frequencies both in the late al and in the longitudinal directions. The selected configurations, both baseline and preferred, for the Delta and Titan launch vehicles were evaluated for stiffness requirements. The structural idealization used to estimate the stiffness of each structural arrangement, was based on an evaluation of primary loads paths, effectivity of structural members, and estimated sizes for the preferred configurations. The study included an evaluation of the following structural materials: (1) aluminum alloys, (2) titanium alloys, (3) beryllium, (4) beryllium/aluminum alloy, and (5) composite materials.

Solving equipment selection and line balancing problems together allows better line configurations to be reached and avoids local optimal solutions. This article considers jointly these two decision problems for mass production lines with serial-parallel workplaces. This study was motivated by the design of production lines based on machines with rotary or mobile tables. Nevertheless, the results are more general and can be applied to assembly and production lines with similar structures. The designers' objectives and the constraints are studied in order to suggest a relevant mathematical model and an efficient optimization approach to solve it. A real case study is used to validate the model and the developed approach.

The inclusion of adequate versatility into the electromagnet array configuration requires sizing the electromagnets to satisfy particular absolute force and moment requirements. Magnetic performance of a permanent magnet model core, air cored electromagnet may easily and reliably be computed by using the FORCE program which calculates model forces and moments via representations of the model as an assembly of dipoles and the electromagnets as an assembly of line currents. Some aspects of the performance of an ellipsoidal iron cored model may be inferred from the above under certain circumstances.

A method of software design for measurement and control systems with changeable configuration is presented. This method is used for the data acquisition system of the pulse thermonuclear "ANGARA-5" installation. The description of the system composition is produced by means of a computer-aided design tool. This description is saved in the special data base and is used by the system software for automatic initialisation of the real hardware. Any change of the connection scheme and device types does not require a new design of the system software. It is only necessary to edit the scheme inside the data base. This method requires object-oriented programming techniques and the hierarchical structure of the system. At the same time the full documentation about the system structure is produced.

Configuration data and design information for the space shuttle launched configuration is presented. The overall system definition, operations and control, and telecommunication service system including link budgets are discussed. A brief description of the user transceiver and ground station is presented. A final section includes a summary description of the TDR spacecraft and all the subsystems. The data presented are largely in tabular form.

This patent relates to the transfer of energy in a traveling electromagnetic wave to direct-current electrical energy in a gaseous medium. The traveling wave is generated by means of a radio-frequency oscillator connected across a capacitance-loaded helix wound around a sealed tube enclosing the gaseous medium. The traveling wave causes the electrons within the medium to drift towards one end of the tube. The direct current appearing across electrodes placed at each end of the tube is then used by some electrical means. (AEC)

A waste water treatment plant in Wilton, Maine, where sludge is converted to methane gas, and Monsanto Company's Environmental Health Laboratory in St. Louis Missouri, where more than 200 solar collectors provide preheating of boiler feed water for laboratory use are representative of Grumman's Sunstream line of solar energy equipment. This equipment was developed with technology from NASA's Apollo lunar module program.

By using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate laser-driven ion acceleration and compression from a thin DT foil in a double-cone configuration. By using two counterpropagating laser pulses, it is shown that a double-cone structure can effectively guide, focus, and strengthen the incident laser pulses, resulting in the enhanced acceleration and compression of D+ and T+. Due to the ion Coulomb repulsion and the effective screening from the external laser electric fields, the transverse diffusion of ions is significantly suppressed. Finally, the peak energy density of the compressed ions exceeds 2.73 × 1016 J/m3, which is about five orders of magnitude higher than the threshold for high energy density physics, 1011 J/m3. Under this condition, DT fusion reactions are initiated and the neutron production rate per volume is estimated to be as high as 7.473 × 1035/m3 s according to Monte Carlo simulations. It is much higher than that of the traditional large neutron sources, which may facilitate many potential applications.

By using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate laser-driven ion acceleration and compression from a thin DT foil in a double-cone configuration. By using two counterpropagating laser pulses, it is shown that a double-cone structure can effectively guide, focus, and strengthen the incident laser pulses, resulting in the enhanced acceleration and compression of D{sup +} and T{sup +}. Due to the ion Coulomb repulsion and the effective screening from the external laser electric fields, the transverse diffusion of ions is significantly suppressed. Finally, the peak energy density of the compressed ions exceeds 2.73 × 10{sup 16 }J/m{sup 3}, which is about five orders of magnitude higher than the threshold for high energy density physics, 10{sup 11 }J/m{sup 3}. Under this condition, DT fusion reactions are initiated and the neutron production rate per volume is estimated to be as high as 7.473 × 10{sup 35}/m{sup 3} s according to Monte Carlo simulations. It is much higher than that of the traditional large neutron sources, which may facilitate many potential applications.

Applying the screened hybrid functional Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) method, we studied the polaronic degree of freedom of different charged oxygen vacancies Vo in rutile TiO2. The HSE method not only corrects the band gap, but also allows for correct polaron localization. Due to the important role of phonon in oxygen vacancy associated levels in the gap, we calculated configuration coordinate (CC) potential energy surfaces for all charged Vo's. Our calculated CC diagrams with effective impression on host states, show significant improvement of electron-lattice interaction compared to semi(local) DFT methods. The obtained values of stokes shifts for sequential transitions of charged vacancies agree well with experimental evidences which confirm Ti3+ centers are responsible for photoluminescence. In addition, we explored the effect of polaron localization on diffusive mechanism of Vo along most open [001] direction. Calculated values of migration barriers for V o2+ are found to be in quantitative agreement with experimental migration energy [E. Iguchi and K. Yajima, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.32 (1971) 1415] of 2.4 eV. These results highlight the small polaronic behavior of Vo's and is consistent with studies suggest the polaronic hopping model for electron transport of n-type conductivity in reduced TiO2 [J.-F. Baumard and F. Gervais, Phys. Rev. B15 (1977) 2316-2323].

The principle of pulse modulation used in the case of coherent scatter radars (MST radars) is discussed. Coherent detection and the corresponding systemconfiguration is delineated. Antenna requirements and design are outlined and the phase-coherent transmitter/receiver system is described. Transmit/receive duplexers, transmitters, receivers, and quadrature detectors are explained. The radar controller, integrator, decoder and correlator design as well as the data transfer and the control and monitoring by the host computer are delineated. Typical operation parameters of some well-known radars are summarized.

The Software Configurable Optical Test System (SCOTS) uses deflectometry to measure surface slopes of general optical shapes without the need for additional null optics. Careful alignment of test geometry and calibration of inherent system error improve the accuracy of SCOTS to a level where it competes with interferometry. We report a SCOTS surface measurement of an off-axis superpolished elliptical x-ray mirror that achieves <1 nm<1 nm root-mean-square accuracy for the surface measurement with low-order term included.

The National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) is a computer-based, energy-economy modeling system of U.S. through 2030. NEMS projects the production, imports, conversion, consumption, and prices of energy, subject to assumptions on macroeconomic and financial factors, world energy markets, resource availability and costs, behavioral and technological choice criteria, cost and performance characteristics of energy technologies, and demographics. NEMS was designed and implemented by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). NEMS can be used to analyze the effects of existing and proposed government laws and regulations related to energy production and use; the potential impact of new and advanced energy production, conversion, and consumption technologies; the impact and cost of greenhouse gas control; the impact of increased use of renewable energy sources; and the potential savings from increased efficiency of energy use; and the impact of regulations on the use of alternative or reformulated fuels. NEMS has also been used for a number of special analyses at the request of the Administration, U.S. Congress, other offices of DOE and other government agencies, who specify the scenarios and assumptions for the analysis. Modules allow analyses to be conducted in energy topic areas such as residential demand, industrial demand, electricity market, oil and gas supply, renewable fuels, etc.

For many years NASA Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility has employed automation in the servicing of flight critical aircraft batteries. Recently a major upgrade to Dryden's computerized Battery Systems Laboratory was initiated to incorporate distributed processing and a centralized database. The new facility, called the Aerospace EnergySystems Laboratory (AESL), is being mechanized with iAPX86 and iAPX286 hardware running iRMX86. The hardware configuration and software structure for the AESL are described.

Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on fossil resources. Both direct energy use for crop management and indirect energy use for fertilizers, pesticides and machinery production have contributed to the major increases in food production seen since the 1960s. However, the relationship between energy inputs and yields is not linear. Low-energy inputs can lead to lower yields and perversely to higher energy demands per tonne of harvested product. At the other extreme, increasing energy inputs can lead to ever-smaller yield gains. Although fossil fuels remain the dominant source of energy for agriculture, the mix of fuels used differs owing to the different fertilization and cultivation requirements of individual crops. Nitrogen fertilizer production uses large amounts of natural gas and some coal, and can account for more than 50 per cent of total energy use in commercial agriculture. Oil accounts for between 30 and 75 per cent of energy inputs of UK agriculture, depending on the cropping system. While agriculture remains dependent on fossil sources of energy, food prices will couple to fossil energy prices and food production will remain a significant contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Technological developments, changes in crop management, and renewable energy will all play important roles in increasing the energy efficiency of agriculture and reducing its reliance of fossil resources. PMID:20713398

Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on fossil resources. Both direct energy use for crop management and indirect energy use for fertilizers, pesticides and machinery production have contributed to the major increases in food production seen since the 1960s. However, the relationship between energy inputs and yields is not linear. Low-energy inputs can lead to lower yields and perversely to higher energy demands per tonne of harvested product. At the other extreme, increasing energy inputs can lead to ever-smaller yield gains. Although fossil fuels remain the dominant source of energy for agriculture, the mix of fuels used differs owing to the different fertilization and cultivation requirements of individual crops. Nitrogen fertilizer production uses large amounts of natural gas and some coal, and can account for more than 50 per cent of total energy use in commercial agriculture. Oil accounts for between 30 and 75 per cent of energy inputs of UK agriculture, depending on the cropping system. While agriculture remains dependent on fossil sources of energy, food prices will couple to fossil energy prices and food production will remain a significant contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Technological developments, changes in crop management, and renewable energy will all play important roles in increasing the energy efficiency of agriculture and reducing its reliance of fossil resources. PMID:20713398

The 4s-4p and 4p-4d transition energies for high-Z copperlike ions are calculated using the relativistic configuration-interaction (RCI) method. Mass polarization (MP) and quantum electrodynamic (QED) corrections are also evaluated. For the 4s-4p transitions, the present RCI energies agree very well with results from the relativistic many-body perturbation theory. With QED and MP corrections included, our total transition energies are in very good agreement with recent high precision measurements.

The energy levels created in supersaturated n-type silicon substrates with titanium implantation in the attempt to create an intermediate band in their band-gap are studied in detail. Two titanium ion implantation doses (1013 cm-2 and 1014 cm-2) are studied in this work by conductance transient technique and admittance spectroscopy. Conductance transients have been measured at temperatures of around 100 K. The particular shape of these transients is due to the formation of energy barriers in the conduction band, as a consequence of the band-gap narrowing induced by the high titanium concentration. Moreover, stationary admittance spectroscopy results suggest the existence of different energy level configuration, depending on the local titanium concentration. A continuum energy level band is formed when titanium concentration is over the Mott limit. On the other hand, when titanium concentration is lower than the Mott limit, but much higher than the donor impurity density, a quasi-continuum energy level distribution appears. Finally, a single deep center appears for low titanium concentration. At the n-type substrate, the experimental results obtained by means of thermal admittance spectroscopy at high reverse bias reveal the presence of single levels located at around Ec-425 and Ec-275 meV for implantation doses of 1013 cm-2 and 1014 cm-2, respectively. At low reverse bias voltage, quasi-continuously distributed energy levels between the minimum of the conduction bands, Ec and Ec-450 meV, are obtained for both doses. Conductance transients detected at low temperatures reveal that the high impurity concentration induces a band gap narrowing which leads to the formation of a barrier in the conduction band. Besides, the relationship between the activation energy and the capture cross section values of all the energy levels fits very well to the Meyer-Neldel rule. As it is known, the Meyer-Neldel rule typically appears in processes involving multiple excitations, like

The energy levels created in supersaturated n-type silicon substrates with titanium implantation in the attempt to create an intermediate band in their band-gap are studied in detail. Two titanium ion implantation doses (10{sup 13 }cm{sup -2} and 10{sup 14 }cm{sup -2}) are studied in this work by conductance transient technique and admittance spectroscopy. Conductance transients have been measured at temperatures of around 100 K. The particular shape of these transients is due to the formation of energy barriers in the conduction band, as a consequence of the band-gap narrowing induced by the high titanium concentration. Moreover, stationary admittance spectroscopy results suggest the existence of different energy level configuration, depending on the local titanium concentration. A continuum energy level band is formed when titanium concentration is over the Mott limit. On the other hand, when titanium concentration is lower than the Mott limit, but much higher than the donor impurity density, a quasi-continuum energy level distribution appears. Finally, a single deep center appears for low titanium concentration. At the n-type substrate, the experimental results obtained by means of thermal admittance spectroscopy at high reverse bias reveal the presence of single levels located at around E{sub c}-425 and E{sub c}-275 meV for implantation doses of 10{sup 13 }cm{sup −2} and 10{sup 14 }cm{sup −2}, respectively. At low reverse bias voltage, quasi-continuously distributed energy levels between the minimum of the conduction bands, E{sub c} and E{sub c}-450 meV, are obtained for both doses. Conductance transients detected at low temperatures reveal that the high impurity concentration induces a band gap narrowing which leads to the formation of a barrier in the conduction band. Besides, the relationship between the activation energy and the capture cross section values of all the energy levels fits very well to the Meyer-Neldel rule. As it is known

This software requires inputs of simple system inventory information and calculates the energy and cost benefits of various retrofit opportunities. This tool includes energy conservation measures for: fixing steam leaks. This tool calculates energy savings, demand reduction, cost savings, and building life cycle costs including: simple payback, discounted payback, net-present value, and savings to investment ratio. In addition this tool also displays the environmental benefits of a project.

Relativistic configuration-interaction calculations of the 4s4p excitation energies and 4s{sup 2} - 4s4p E1 transitions for Zn-like ions from Z = 30 to 92 are shown. B-spline basis functions are used for these large-scale calculations. QED corrections to the excitation energies are also calculated. Results are in good agreement with other theories and with experiment, and demonstrate the utility of this method for high-precision atomic structure calculations not just for few-electron systems but also for large atomic systems such as Zn-like ions along the entire isoelectronic sequence.

In this report the authors describe results from technical and economic assessments carried out during the past year with support from the USDOE Hydrogen R&D Program. (1) Assessment of technologies for small scale production of hydrogen from natural gas. Because of the cost and logistics of transporting and storing hydrogen, it may be preferable to produce hydrogen at the point of use from more readily available energy carriers such as natural gas or electricity. In this task the authors assess near term technologies for producing hydrogen from natural gas at small scale including steam reforming, partial oxidation and autothermal reforming. (2) Case study of developing a hydrogen vehicle refueling infrastructure in Southern California. Many analysts suggest that the first widespread use of hydrogen energy is likely to be in zero emission vehicles in Southern California. Several hundred thousand zero emission automobiles are projected for the Los Angeles Basin alone by 2010, if mandated levels are implemented. Assuming that hydrogen vehicles capture a significant fraction of this market, a large demand for hydrogen fuel could evolve over the next few decades. Refueling a large number of hydrogen vehicles poses significant challenges. In this task the authors assess near term options for producing and delivering gaseous hydrogen transportation fuel to users in Southern California including: (1) hydrogen produced from natural gas in a large, centralized steam reforming plant, and delivered to refueling stations via liquid hydrogen truck or small scale hydrogen gas pipeline, (2) hydrogen produced at the refueling station via small scale steam reforming of natural gas, (3) hydrogen produced via small scale electrolysis at the refueling station, and (4) hydrogen from low cost chemical industry sources (e.g. excess capacity in refineries which have recently upgraded their hydrogen production capacity, etc.).

In many problems in molecular and solid state structures one needs to determine the energy-minimizing decoration of sites by different atom-types (i. e.configuration). The sheer size of this configurational space can be horrendous even if the underlying lattice-type is known. The ab-initio total-energy surface for different (relaxed) configurations can often be parameterized by a spin-like Hamiltonian (Cluster-Expansion) with discrete spin -variables denoting the type of atom occupying each site. We compare two search strategies for the energy-minimizing configuration: (i) A discrete-variable genetic-algorithm approach( S. V. Dudiy and A. Zunger, PRL 97, 046401 (2006) ) and (ii) a continuous-variable approach (M. Wang et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 3228 (2006) ) where the discrete-spin functional is mapped onto a continuous-spin functional (virtual atoms) and the search is guided by local gradients with respect to each spin. We compare their efficiency at locating the ground-state configurations of fcc Au-Pd Alloy in terms of number of calls to the functional. We show that a GA approach with diversity-enhancing constraints and reciprocal-space mating easily outperforms the VA approach.

Industrial processes use rotating equipment (e.g.; pump, fan, blower, centrifugal compressor, positive displacement compressor) and pipe (or duct) to move fluid from point A to B, with many processes using electric motors as the prime mover. Most of the systems in the industry are over-designed to meet a peak load demand which might occur over a small fraction of the time or to satisfy a higher pressure demanded by a much smaller user in the same process. The system over-design will result in a selection of larger but inefficient rotating equipment and electric motor system. A careful life cycle cost and economic evaluation must be undertaken to ensure that the process audit, reengineering and equipment selections are not impacting the industrial process goals, but result in a least optimal cost over the life of the project. The paper will define, discuss, and present various process systems in chemical, hydrocarbon and pulp and paper industries. It will discuss the interactive impact of the changes in the mechanical systemconfiguration and the changes in the process variables to better redesign the system and reduce the cost of operation. it will also present a check list of energy conservation measures (ECM) or opportunities. Such ECMs will be related to hydraulics, system components, process modifications, and system efficiency. Two or three case studies will be presented focusing on various conservation measures that improve electrical operating efficiency of a distillation column system. An incremental cost and payback analysis will be presented to assist the investment in process optimization and energy savings' measures.

The feasibility of inertial energy storage in a spacecraft power system is evaluated on the basis of a conceptual integrated design that encompasses a composite rotor, magnetic suspension, and a permanent magnet (PM) motor/generator for a 3-kW orbital average payload at a bus distribution voltage of 250 volts dc. The conceptual design, which evolved at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), is referred to as a Mechanical Capacitor. The baseline power systemconfiguration selected is a series system employing peak-power-tracking for a Low Earth-Orbiting application. Power processing, required in the motor/generator, provides a potential alternative configurations that can only be achieved in systems with electrochemical energy storage by the addition of power processing components. One such alternative configuration provides for peak-power-tracking of the solar array and still maintains a regulated bus, without the expense of additional power processing components. Precise speed control of the two counterrotating wheels is required to reduce interaction with the attitude control system (ACS) or alternatively, used to perform attitude control functions. Critical technologies identified are those pertaining to the energy storage element and are prioritized as composite wheel development, magnetic suspension, motor/generator, containment, and momentum control. Comparison with a 3-kW, 250-Vdc power system using either NiCd or NiH2 for energy storage results in a system in which inertial energy storage offers potential advantages in lifetime, operating temperature, voltage regulation, energy density, charge control, and overall system weight reduction.

The feasibility of inertial energy storage in a spacecraft power system is evaluated on the basis of a conceptual integrated design that encompasses a composite rotor, magnetic suspension, and a permanent magnet (PM) motor/generator for a 3-kW orbital average payload at a bus distribution voltage of 250 volts dc. The conceptual design, which evolved at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), is referred to as a Mechanical Capacitor. The baseline power systemconfiguration selected is a series system employing peak-power-tracking for a Low Earth-Orbiting application. Power processing, required in the motor/generator, provides a potential alternative configurations that can only be achieved in systems with electrochemical energy storage by the addition of power processing components. One such alternative configuration provides for peak-power-tracking of the solar array and still maintains a regulated bus, without the expense of additional power processing components. Precise speed control of the two counterrotating wheels is required to reduce interaction with the attitude control system (ACS) or alternatively, used to perform attitude control functions. Critical technologies identified are those pertaining to the energy storage element and are prioritized as composite wheel development, magnetic suspension, motor/generator, containment, and momentum control. Comparison with a 3-kW, 250-Vdc power system using either NiCd or NiH2 for energy storage results in a system in which inertial energy storage offers potential advantages in lifetime, operating temperature, voltage regulation, energy density, charge control, and overall system weight reduction.

Only recently have engineers begun making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the area of conceptual design. To continue filling this void in the design process, a prototype knowledge-based system, called STRUTEX has been developed to initially configure a structure to support point loads in two dimensions. This prototype was developed for testing the application of AI tools to conceptual design as opposed to being a testbed for new methods for improving structural analysis and optimization. This system combines numerical and symbolic processing by the computer with interactive problem solving aided by the vision of the user. How the system is constructed to interact with the user is described. Of special interest is the information flow between the knowledge base and the data base under control of the algorithmic main program. Examples of computed and refined structures are presented during the explanation of the system.

The purpose of this research effort is to investigate the benefits that might be derived from applying artificial intelligence tools in the area of conceptual design. Therefore, the emphasis is on the artificial intelligence aspects of conceptual design rather than structural and optimization aspects. A prototype knowledge-based system, called STRUTEX, was developed to initially configure a structure to support point loads in two dimensions. This system combines numerical and symbolic processing by the computer with interactive problem solving aided by the vision of the user by integrating a knowledge base interface and inference engine, a data base interface, and graphics while keeping the knowledge base and data base files separate. The system writes a file which can be input into a structural synthesis system, which combines structural analysis and optimization.

The (111) planar defect energies at the ground state in L1_0 TiAl were calculated by pair potential models(PPM) and the embedded atom method (EAM). The results by the EAM show that the magnitudes of the defect energies in a (111) plane are in descending order: APB, CSF and ISF. The APB energy varies depending on its habit. The APB energy decreases when the APB undergoes cross-slip from (111) plane onto either (101) plane or (010) plane. The calculated APB energies in (111) plane, (101) plane and (010) plane were found to be 322, 237 and 131 mJ/m^2, respectively. The planar defects in the (113) plane of L1 _0 TiAl were created by a shear model using various displacement vectors; The geometries of these defects were studied and compared with those of the (111) planar defects, and their energies were also determined by the PPM and the EAM. The (113) gamma -surface calculated by the EAM shows that the metastable ISF and APB exist in the (113) plane, but the metastable CSF does not. The energies of ISF, ESF and APB were found to be 1413, 1340 and 1446 mJ/m^2, respectively. By and large, the higher energies of the planar defects in (113) plane than in (111) plane indicate that these defects in the (113) plane may be formed only at high temperatures. The energies of the dissociated super-dislocations with Burgers vector of <101) in various configurations were calculated based on the balance between the repulsive force among the partial dislocations and the attractive force originating from the planar defect energy. The results show that the obtuse stair-rod configuration without an APB possesses the lowest energy, the obtuse extended K-W type configuration, the second lowest, and the obtuse Kear-Wilsdorf type configuration, the third lowest energy among the considered configurations. In the study, the thermodynamic hierarchy of the most probable configurations of <101) type super-dislocations in L1_0 TiAl has been established.

NASA is conducting a series of millimeter wave satellite communication systems and market studies to: (1) determine potential domestic 30/20 GHz satellite concepts and market potential, and (2) establish the requirements for a suitable technology verification payload which, although intended to be modest in capacity, would sufficiently demonstrate key technologies and experimentally address key operational issues. Preliminary results and critical issues of the current contracted effort are described. Also included is a description of a NASA-developed multibeam satellite payload configuration which may be representative of concepts utilized in a technology flight verification program.

Two methods are considered to 'tap' the earth's rotational energy. This ancient 'collapsed gravitational energy' exceeds the earth-lunar binding energy. One involves an orbiting 'electromagnetic-gravitational' coupling system whereby the earth's rotation, with its nonuniform mass distribution, first uses gravity to add orbital energy to a satellite, similar to a planetary 'flyby'. The second stage involves enhanced satellite 'drag' as current-carrying coils withdraw the added orbital energy as they pass through the earth's nonuniform magnetic field. A second more direct method couples the earth's rotational motion using conducting wires moving through the noncorotating part (ionospheric current systems) of the geomagnetic field. These methods, although not immediately feasible, are considerably more efficient than using pure gravitational coupling to earth-moon tides.

The deployment of ubiquitous sensor systems and algorithms has led to many challenges, such as matching sensor systems to compatible algorithms which are capable of satisfying a task. Compounding the challenges is the lack of the requisite knowledge models needed to discover sensors and algorithms and to subsequently integrate their capabilities to satisfy a specific task. A novel ontological problem-solving framework has been designed to match sensors to compatible algorithms to form synthesized systems, which are capable of satisfying a task and then assigning the synthesized systems to high-level missions. The approach designed for the ontological problem-solving framework has been instantiated in the context of a persistence surveillance prototype environment, which includes profiling sensor systems and algorithms to demonstrate proof-of-concept principles. Even though the problem-solving approach was instantiated with profiling sensor systems and algorithms, the ontological framework may be useful with other heterogeneous sensing-system environments. PMID:22163793

The NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility developed a computerized aircraft battery servicing facility called the Aerospace EnergySystems Laboratory (AESL). This system employs distributed processing with communications provided by a 2.4-megabit BITBUS local area network. Customized handlers provide real time status, remote command, and file transfer protocols between a central system running the iRMX-II operating system and ten slave stations running the iRMX-I operating system. The hardware configuration and software components required to implement this BITBUS application are required.

Wind is an attractive renewable source of energy. Recent innovations in research and design have reduced to a few alternatives with limited impact on residential construction. Cost effective solutions have been found at larger scale, but storage and delivery of energy to the actual location it is used, remain a critical issue. The Integrated Roof Wind EnergySystem is designed to overcome the current issues of urban and larger scale renewable energysystem. The system is built up by an axial array of skewed shaped funnels that make use of the Venturi Effect to accelerate the wind flow. This inventive use of shape and geometry leads to a converging air capturing inlet to create high wind mass flow and velocity toward a vertical-axis wind turbine in the top of the roof for generation of a relatively high amount of energy. The methods used in this overview of studies include an array of tools from analytical modelling, PIV wind tunnel testing, and CFD simulation studies. The results define the main design parameters for an efficient system, and show the potential for the generation of high amounts of renewable energy with a novel and effective system suited for the built environment.

A system for optimizing customer utility usage in a utility network of customer sites, each having one or more utility devices, where customer site is communicated between each of the customer sites and an optimization server having software for optimizing customer utility usage over one or more networks, including private and public networks. A customer site model for each of the customer sites is generated based upon the customer site information, and the customer utility usage is optimized based upon the customer site information and the customer site model. The optimization server can be hosted by an external source or within the customer site. In addition, the optimization processing can be partitioned between the customer site and an external source.

A moving bed biofilm reactor with pre-denitrification configuration was fed with a synthetic wastewater containing high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia. By changing different variables including ammonium and COD loading, nitrification rate in the aerobic reactor and denitrification rate in the anoxic reactor were monitored. Changing the influent loading was achieved via adjusting the inlet COD (956-2,096 mg/L), inlet ammonium (183-438 mg/L), and hydraulic retention time of the aerobic reactor (8, 12, and 18 hours). The overall organic loading rate was in the range of 3.60-17.37 gCOD/m2·day, of which 18.5-91% was removed in the anoxic reactor depending on the operational conditions. Considering the complementary role of the aerobic reactor, the overall COD removal was in the range 87.3-98.8%. In addition, nitrification rate increased with influent ammonium loading, the maximum rate reaching 3.05 gNH4/m2·day. One of the most important factors affecting nitrification rate was influent C:N entering the aerobic reactor, by increasing which nitrification rate decreased asymptotically. Nitrate removal efficiency in the anoxic reactor was also controlled by the inlet nitrate level entering the anoxic reactor. Furthermore, by increasing the nitrate loading rate from 0.91 to 3.49 gNO/m3·day, denitrification rate increased from 0.496 to 2.47 gNO/m3·day. PMID:26465296

A memory system and method for providing atomic memory-based counter operations to operating systems and applications that make most efficient use of counter-backing memory and virtual and physical address space, while simplifying operating system memory management, and enabling the counter-backing memory to be used for purposes other than counter-backing storage when desired. The encoding and address decoding enabled by the invention provides all this functionality through a combination of software and hardware.

Configuration management ensures that the requirements and constraints, identified in previous stages of development, are preserved throughout the design, implementation and operation of complex systems. Space-related, software systems pose particular problems because, for instance, it can be hard to determine what code is actually running on a platform as successive updates are performed over many months of remote operation. It is, therefore, important we learn as much as possible from previous mishaps that have involved configuration management; given that software continues to play a critical role in the safety of many space missions. The following pages extend the US Air Force’s 8-Step Method to identify lessons learned from space related incidents. This approach builds on Boyd’s OODA(Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) Loop and provides a common framework for the analysis of these complex incidents. It is important to stress that the application of an existing general approach to problem solving, rather than the development of a specific approach for configuration management, is intended to reduce training costs and to increase the value added from existing investments in the use of the 8-Step Method. Many specialised software engineering techniques are not used because they cannot easily be applied within the financial limits and deadlines that constrain most space programmes. The closing sections of this paper identify areas for further work; in particular, we stress the importance of links with recent European Space Agency problem solving techniques that support the early-stage development of long duration space missions.

A system has a plurality of spacecraft in orbit around the earth for collecting energy from the Sun in space, using stimulated emission to configure that energy as well defined states of the optical field and delivering that energy efficiently throughout the region of space surrounding Earth.

School systems may be usefully characterized according to Turner's proposed ideal types of sponsored and contest mobility. Germany is a critical case with respect to this typology because its secondary school system is stratified and selective, and yet it offers the opportunity for upward and downward mobility. Drawing on an analysis of a German…

Context. Magnetic fields are important for accretion disc structure. Magnetic fields in a disc system may be transported with the accreted matter. They can be associated with either the central body and/or jet, and be fossil or dynamo excited in situ. Aims: We consider dynamo excitation of magnetic fields in accretion discs of accreting binary systems in an attempt to clarify possible configurations of dynamo generated magnetic fields. We first model the entire disc with realistic radial extent and thickness using an alpha-quenching non-linearity. We then study the simultaneous effect of feedback from the Lorentz force from the dynamo-generated field. Methods: We perform numerical simulations in the framework of a relatively simple mean-field model which allows the generation of global magnetic configurations. Results: We explore a range of possibilities for the dynamo number, and find quadrupolar-type solutions with irregular temporal oscillations that might be compared to observed rapid luminosity fluctuations. The dipolar symmetry models with Rα< 0 have lobes of strong toroidal field adjacent to the rotation axis that could be relevant to jet launching phenomena. Conclusions: We have explored and extended the solutions known for thin accretion discs.

Using time-resolved x-ray resonant magnetic scattering we report on the precessional dynamics of spin valve systems with parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) orientation of the ferromagnetic layers separated by a nonmagnetic spacer layers. Previously we observed in Co/Cu/Ni81Fe19(Py) spin valve systems an increase of the magnetic damping parameter in Py with changing magnetization direction of Py and Co layers from P to AP orientation [Salikhov , Appl. Phys. Lett.APPLAB0003-695110.1063/1.3633115 99, 092509 (2011)]. We attributed this finding to the configurational dependence of the spin pumping effect [Kim and Chappert, J. Magn. Magn. Mater.JMMMDC0304-885310.1016/j.jmmm.2004.09.036 286, 56 (2005)]. Here we extend our earlier findings by investigating the temperature dependence of the spin pumping effect and possible other causes for the configurational dependence of the damping parameter, such as domain wall induced coupling or magnetic dipole coupling. The main focus is on Co/Cu/Py trilayers and on Co2MnGe/V/Py trilayers with spin valve properties.

A suspension system of classical geophone was developed, adopting multiple pairs of leaf springs as a substitute for one pair. The finite element analysis was used as the solving means, and the results indicated that the geophone performance with developed suspension system was more favorable than that with conventional suspension system. First, the operating broadband of the improved geophone was wider than that of the conventional geophone. Second, the distortion of output signal for a geophone was slightly reduced, which was usually enlarged with improving the ratio of spurious resonant frequency to natural frequency.

The results of analytical and simulation studies of the stellar-inertial measurement system (SIMS) for an earth observation satellite are presented. Subsystem design analyses and sensor design trades are reported. Three candidate systems are considered: (1) structure-mounted gyros with structure-mounted star mapper, (2) structure-mounted gyros with gimbaled star tracker, and (3) gimbaled gyros with structure-mounted star mapper. The purpose of the study is to facilitate the decisions pertaining to gimbaled versus structure-mounted gyros and star sensors, and combinations of systems suitable for the EOS satellite.

Risk indicator analysis for a decentralized energysystem of the North was carried out. Based on analysis of damages caused by accidents at energysystems, their structure is selected, and a North energysystem risk determination method was proposed.

Iron-uranium selectivity in liquid-liquid extraction depends not only on the mole fraction of extractants, but also on the nature of the diluent used, even if the diluent has no complexation interaction with the extracted ions. Modeling strong nonlinearity is difficult to parametrize without a large number of parameters, interpreted as "apparent constants". We determine in this paper the synergy curve versus mole fraction of HDEHP-TOPO (di(2-ethylexyl) phosphoric acid/tri-n-octyl phosphine oxide) and compare the free energy of aggregation to the free energy of extraction in various diluents. There is always a concomitant maximum of the two quantities, but with a gradual influence on intensity. The diluent is wetting the chains of the reverse aggregates responsible of the extraction. We show here that the intensity of the unexplained synergy peak is strongly dependent on the "penetrating" or "nonpenetrating" nature of the diluent. This experimental determination allows us to attribute the synergy to a combination of entropic effects favoring extraction, opposed to perturbation of the first coordination sphere by penetration as well as surfactant film bending energy. PMID:26053416

This paper presents the rationale for the use of a component-based architecture for computer-assisted intervention (CAI) systems, including the ability to reuse components and to easily develop distributed systems. We introduce three additional capabilities, however, that we believe are especially important for research and development of CAI systems. The first is the ability to deploy components among different processes (as conventionally done) or within the same process (for optimal real-time performance), without requiring source-level modifications to the component. This is particularly relevant for real-time video processing, where the use of multiple processes could cause perceptible delays in the video stream. The second key feature is the ability to dynamically reconfigure the system. In a system composed of multiple processes on multiple computers, this allows one process to be restarted (e.g., after correcting a problem) and reconnected to the rest of the system, which is more convenient than restarting the entire distributed application and enables better fault recovery. The third key feature is the availability of run-time tools for data collection, interactive control, and introspection, and offline tools for data analysis and playback. The above features are provided by the open-source cisst software package, which forms the basis for the Surgical Assistant Workstation (SAW) framework. A complex computer-assisted intervention system for retinal microsurgery is presented as an example that relies on these features. This system integrates robotics, stereo microscopy, force sensing, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging to transcend the current limitations of vitreoretinal surgery. PMID:25243238

We numerically investigate the stability of systems of 1 {M_{oplus}} planets orbiting a solar-mass star. The systems studied have either 2 or 42 planets per occupied semimajor axis, for a total of 6, 10, 126, or 210 planets, and the planets were started on coplanar, circular orbits with the semimajor axes of the innermost planets at 1 AU. For systems with two planets per occupied orbit, the longitudinal initial locations of planets on a given orbit were separated by either 60° (Trojan planets) or 180°. With 42 planets per semimajor axis, initial longitudes were uniformly spaced. The ratio of the semimajor axes of consecutive coorbital groups in each system was approximately uniform. The instability time for a system was taken to be the first time at which the orbits of two planets with different initial orbital distances crossed. Simulations spanned virtual times of up to 1 × 108, 5 × 105, and 2 × 105 years for the 6- and 10-planet, 126-planet, and 210-planet systems, respectively. Our results show that, for a given class of system (e.g., five pairs of Trojan planets orbiting in the same direction), the relationship between orbit crossing times and planetary spacing is well fit by the functional form log( t c / t 0) = b β + c, where t c is the crossing time, t 0 = 1 year, β is the separation in initial orbital semimajor axis (in terms of the mutual Hill radii of the planets), and b and c are fitting constants. The same functional form was observed in the previous studies of single planets on nested orbits (Smith and Lissauer 2009). Pairs of Trojan planets are more stable than pairs initially separated by 180°. Systems with retrograde planets (i.e., some planets orbiting in the opposite sense from others) can be packed substantially more closely than can systems with all planets orbiting in the same sense. To have the same characteristic lifetime, systems with 2 or 42 planets per orbit typically need to have about 1.5 or 2 times the orbital separation as

This program focused on development of the fundamental understanding necessary to significantly improve advanced battery and ultra-capacitor materials and systems to achieve significantly higher power and energy density on the one hand, and significantly lower cost on the other. This program spanned all the way from atomic-level theory, to new nanomaterials syntheses and characterization, to system modeling and bench-scale technology demonstration. Significant accomplishments are detailed in each section. Those particularly noteworthy include: • Transition metal silicate cathodes with 2x higher storage capacity than commercial cobalt oxide cathodes were demonstrated. • MnO₂ nanowires, which are a promising replacement for RuO₂, were synthesized • PAN-based carbon nanofibers were prepared and characterized with an energy density 30-times higher than current ultracapacitors on the market and comparable to lead-acid batteries • An optimization-based control strategy for real-time power management of battery storage in wind farms was developed and demonstrated. • PVDF films were developed with breakdown strengths of > 600MVm⁻¹, a maximum energy density of approximately 15 Jcm⁻³, and an average dielectric constant of 9.8 (±1.2). Capacitors made from these films can support a 10-year lifetime operating at an electric field of 200 MV m⁻¹. This program not only delivered significant advancements in fundamental understanding and new materials and technology, it also showcased the power of the cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams at UT Dallas and UT Tyler for such work. These teams are continuing this work with other sources of funding from both industry and government.

The goals of the project were to evaluate the importance of process dynamics in building HVAC systems. The specific objectives were: 1. To study the dynamics of a building HVAC system using test data and computer models; 2. To determine the effect of the time between control decisions on the energy consumption of an HVAC system; 3. To determine dynamic HVAC operating strategies that will potentially reduce energy consumption. The HVAC system of the 11 story IBM building in Atlanta, Georgia, was studied using a combination of data collected at the site and models of the components. The HVAC system consists of two 550 ton centrifugal chillers, a cooling tower with two cells and a two speed fan in each cell, and variable and constant air volume air distribution systems. An energy management and control system (EMCS) that monitors the flow rates, temperatures, and pressures throughout the system, controls the operating modes, and sets the status of major components was installed in the building.

The aim of this study is the development and testing of a control system for solid oxide fuel cell hybrid systems through dynamic simulations. Due to the complexity of these cycles, several parameters, such as the turbine rotational speed, the temperatures within the fuel cell, the differential pressure between the anodic and the cathodic side and the Steam-To-Carbon Ratio need to be monitored and kept within safe limits. Furthermore, in stand-alone conditions the system response to load variations is required to meet the global plant power demand at any time, supporting global load variations and avoiding dangerous or unstable conditions. The plant component models and their integration were carried out in previous studies. This paper focuses on the control strategy required for managing the net electrical power from the system, avoiding malfunctions or damage. Once the control system was developed and tuned, its performance was evaluated by simulating the transient behaviour of the whole hybrid cycle: the results for several operating conditions are presented and discussed.

The ab initio quasirelativistic Hartree-Fock method developed specifically for the calculation of spectroscopic parameters of heavy atoms and highly charged ions was used to derive spectral data for the multicharged tungsten ion W35+. The configuration interaction method was applied to include the electron-correlation effects. The relativistic effects were taken into account in the Breit-Pauli approximation for quasirelativistic Hartree-Fock radial orbitals. The energy level spectra, radiative lifetimes τ, and Lande g-factors have been calculated for the 4p64d3, 4p64d24f, and 4p54d4 configurations of the W35+ ion.

The Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U) vacuum system has been installed and operating since December 1981. In 1982 and early 1983 the performance of the internal, dynamic pumping system was evaluated during physics experiments. The plasma region gas loads caused the pressure to exceed that allowable for achieving thermal barrier plasmas. The unified, multiple-beamline concept used on TMX-U to pump the neutral-beam injector gas was modified. The modifications to the system were designed to reduce conductance between the injectors and the plasma region to better use the differential pumping in the pumping regions. The modifications made were a smaller cross section neutralizer, replacing apertures with ducts between regions, eliminating the injector scrape-off in the plasma region, relocating the neutral beam dumps, and eliminating the gaps around various penetrations.

The requirements and specifications for a general purpose payload communications system simulator to be used to emulate those communications system portions of NASA and DOD payloads/spacecraft that will in the future be carried into earth orbit by the shuttle are discussed. For the purpose of on-orbit checkout, the shuttle is required to communicate with the payloads while they are physically located within the shuttle bay (attached) and within a range of 20 miles from the shuttle after they have been deployed (detached). Many of the payloads are also under development (and many have yet to be defined), actual payload communication hardware will not be available within the time frame during which the avionic hardware tests will be conducted. Thus, a flexible payload communication system simulator is required.

Attention is given to the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) currently in the Level IV integration cycle at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for its maiden flight on the first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) mission to be launched in May 1992. CGF was developed for NASA under the Microgravity Science and Application division programs at NASA Headquarters. An overview of the CGF system and the systemconfiguration for the USML-1 mission are presented, and the planned on-orbit experiments are described. The four important scientific experiments selected from industry and educational institutions for the CGF USML-1 mission will enable a better understanding of the complex phenomena inherent in materials processing that will lead to the ultimate improvement of both processes and materials. Crystal growth by chemical vapor transport has resulted in improved growth conditions with crystal morphology, lower defect densities, and higher growth rates than terrestrially observed.

The Free Electron Laser Project at Jefferson Lab is based on a comparatively small accelerator driver. As it's systems continues to grow and evolve, strict configuration control has not been a programmatic goal. Conversely, as the IR-Demo FEL and the 10kW IR FEL have been built and operated, hardware and software changes have been regular part of the machine development process. With relatively small component counts for sub-systems, changes occur without requiring much formal documentation and in-situ alterations are common-place in the name of supporting operations. This paper presents an overview of the web-based software tool called DevLore which was first developed to be a library for embedded programming and then became a tremendously effective tool for tracking all changes made to the machine hardware and software.

The goal of this document is to provide detailed instructions to create, modify, interface, and test Aspen User and In-House databanks with minimal frustration. The level of instructions are aimed at a novice Aspen Plus simulation user who is neither a programming nor computer-system expert. The instructions are tailored to Version 10.1 of Aspen Plus and the specific computing configuration summarized in the Title of this document and detailed in Section 2. Many details of setting up databanks depend on the computing environment specifics, such as the machines, operating systems, command languages, directory structures, inter-computer communications software, the version of the Aspen Engine and Graphical User Interface (GUI), and the directory structure of how these were installed.

The goal of this document is to provide detailed instructions to create, modify, interface, and test Aspen User and In-House databanks with minimal frustration. The level of instructions are aimed at a novice Aspen Plus simulation user who is neither a programming nor computer-system expert. The instructions are tailored to Version 10.1 of Aspen Plus and the specific computing configuration summarized in the Title of this document and detailed in Section 2. Many details of setting up databanks depend on the computing environment specifics, such as the machines, operating systems, command languages, directory structures, inter-computer communications software, the version of the Aspen Engine and Graphical User Interface (GUI), and the directory structure of how these were installed.

The purpose of this report is to establish linear, decoupled models of rigid body motion for the fixed wing configuration of the Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA). Longitudinal and lateral control surface fixed linear models were created from aircraft time histories using current system identification techniques. Models were obtained from computer simulation at 160 KCAS and 200 KCAS, and from flight data at 160 KCAS. Comparisons were performed to examine modeling accuracy, variation of dynamics with airspeed and correlation of simulation and flight data results. The results showed that the longitudinal and lateral linear models accurately predicted RSRA dynamics. The flight data results showed that no significant handling qualities problems were present in the RSRA fixed wing aircraft at the flight speed tested.

In this paper, a distribution systems loss minimum reconfiguration method by genetic algorithm is proposed. The problem is a complex mixed integer programming problem and is very difficult to solve by a mathematical programming approach. A genetic algorithm (GA) is a search or optimization algorithm based on the mechanics of natural selection and natural genetics. Since GA is suitable to solve combinatorial optimization problems, it can be successfully applied to problems of loss minimum in distribution systems. Numerical examples demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

A specially designed sensor processor used as a main processor in IoT (internet-of-thing) device for the rare-event sensing applications is proposed. The IoT device including the proposed sensor processor performs the event-driven sensor data processing based on an accuracy-energyconfigurable event-quantization in architectural level. The received sensor signal is converted into a sequence of atomic events, which is extracted by the signal-to-atomic-event generator (AEG). Using an event signal processing unit (EPU) as an accelerator, the extracted atomic events are analyzed to build the final event. Instead of the sampled raw data transmission via internet, the proposed method delays the communication with a host system until a semantic pattern of the signal is identified as a final event. The proposed processor is implemented on a single chip, which is tightly coupled in bus connection level with a microcontroller using a 0.18 μm CMOS embedded-flash process. For experimental results, we evaluated the proposed sensor processor by using an IR- (infrared radio-) based signal reflection and sensor signal acquisition system. We successfully demonstrated that the expected power consumption is in the range of 20% to 50% compared to the result of the basement in case of allowing 10% accuracy error. PMID:25580458

A specially designed sensor processor used as a main processor in IoT (internet-of-thing) device for the rare-event sensing applications is proposed. The IoT device including the proposed sensor processor performs the event-driven sensor data processing based on an accuracy-energyconfigurable event-quantization in architectural level. The received sensor signal is converted into a sequence of atomic events, which is extracted by the signal-to-atomic-event generator (AEG). Using an event signal processing unit (EPU) as an accelerator, the extracted atomic events are analyzed to build the final event. Instead of the sampled raw data transmission via internet, the proposed method delays the communication with a host system until a semantic pattern of the signal is identified as a final event. The proposed processor is implemented on a single chip, which is tightly coupled in bus connection level with a microcontroller using a 0.18 μm CMOS embedded-flash process. For experimental results, we evaluated the proposed sensor processor by using an IR- (infrared radio-) based signal reflection and sensor signal acquisition system. We successfully demonstrated that the expected power consumption is in the range of 20% to 50% compared to the result of the basement in case of allowing 10% accuracy error. PMID:25580458